100th Hunger Games: Whispers of the Wind
by AlphaZero21
Summary: The Hunger Games were ingrained into Panem. The Districts had become numb to it and the losses from it. Well, that was until multiple shocking acts of defiance in the recent games have the Capitol people questioning the games. With 4th Quarter Quell rearing it's head, the Capitol will retaliate by making the most destructive Hunger Games yet... With two siblings caught in inbetween
1. The 100th (Reaping)

As I stare up at the sky, I daydream about the world outside of 11. The thought of leaving 11 has clouded my thoughts ever since I gained the ability to have speak. Anywhere but 11 would be great honestly.

As I work on the field, planting crops in the already plowed fields, I grit my teeth through the scorching heat. If it wasn't obvious enough, I hate it here. _Well I don't exactly hate this place. I dread it with every inch of my 12 year old life._

11 is the district that grows all of the crops outside of District 9 which does grain. It also happens to be the closest District to 11 and I've always dreamed about running through the walls and peacekeepers into the open arms of the people in 9. _Unrealistic but I had the dream 7 years ago so don't look at me that way..._

That's an impossibility though. Since 11 is the crop growing district, it'd be awful if the Capitol were to lose food and so peacekeepers are dangerous here. If you step out of line a tad-bit... you might as well volunteer for the Hunger Games. Speaking of the Hunger Games, the reapings for the 100th Annual Hunger Games are later today.

Yeah. While most other districts have there reapings in the early morning through afternoon hours, we have ours dead last at around 7 in the afternoon. Reason? Because the Capitol needs their food. I look around at the corn me and my family have planted. I'd love to burn them all.

Cause a fire of sorts just to piss of the Capitol. If their food is so important, than maybe cutting off the supplies just a little can makes someone suffer. I don't know why I've been so pissed off at the Capitol recently. Maybe it's because mamma told me and Alma (All-ma) recently told us about Rue... her older sister...

She's dead. Been dead for decades now. However, I furiously remind myself of her unfair and cruel death in the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Though momma didn't give us all the details, it's safe to assume that I'm angry.

However, it'll pass, just like the Hunger Games will today. I think about the Quarter Quell this year.

 _To remind the Districts that when you rebel, the Capitol will always punish you no matter how cruel, the Capitol citizens will be the ones voting the stipulation of the Hunger Games._

I grit my teeth. I was 11 when that was announced. It was the day of the victors interview of the 99th Annual Hunger Games. President Ramia came out of nowhere on TV and announced it to the whole nation. With a smile, he opened up the card and asked the viewers at home to send in ideas for both the change and the arena... now this year I'm praying that the stipulation doesn't get me involved.

Though Mamma has assured me every day since then that the chances of me being reaped are lower than 11s poor. "Altar, you ain't being reaped. No matter you think, the chances are low. Trust me." She would tell me.

However, that could be just it. Half a year ago at the victory tour, it was revealed the first voted stipulation... a call back to the 50th games. 48 tributes will be involved. 2 boys, 2 girls.

My goodness. Of course, District 11 is a huge district but out of over 100,000 people, 4 will be selected. I could be included. We use terrace after all. I don't really want to think about it though. Me? Included in the Hunger Games? I mean, it's already bad luck enough that my first year in the drawings is the 100th Hunger Games of all things but god damn. Their are two possible chances of this happening.

Alma has joked that he'd volunteer for me if the situation ever came but I'd rather him not do that. It'd be unrealistic for either one of us to win.

The next twist was announced later on. The 2nd twist is that their would be two different arenas. To get their, we'd have to knock the tribute number to 24 or 19.

For the first arena, two tributes would be linked. They'd both have to share supplies, weapons and even sponsors. If your partner dies, you'll be unable to get sponsors and even then, you'll be mostly alone. The second arena is most likely just any regular games.

I shake my head thinking about it.

As I continue the farm work, I hear the familiar 4 note whistle the signifies the end of the work day. I breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, we're done. However, I remember: Reapings.

Alma waves over at me. "It's time." He tells me, putting his hand on my shoulder. I give him a smile before we walk towards the train that usually takes us home.

However, it's taking us to the nearest reaping area. Three in all. Considering how many people their are in 11, I've always been curious as to how they put them all in one place...

* * *

 ** _Later..._**

* * *

As my and Allma find ourselves in the square, I retch. The people are crowded in all like cattle from 10. Theirs very little room to breath as we the peacekeepers quickly take our blood. "Don't worry, shouldn't hurt too bad..." Allma sighs. From what I know, their are so many people that they are actively slashing our fingers.

I give a worried expression to my brother. "Don't worry. If they hurt you more than they should, I'll hurt them more than the games would." He smiles at me. I give a smile back. As he rolls up, they quickly scrape his finger and he cringes. I'm next so Allma holds me still as they rush it.

 **"SQUICK!"** I flinch as my blood spills and hits the floor as they push me along into the next area. Once again, Allma puts his hands on my shoulder. "Alt... I hope you know where to go since I can't be with you there. Trust me, the aren't reaping you." He hugs me as a peacekeeper comes in and pushes him towards the 16 year old section.

I'm moved over to the 12 year old area where I sigh. The other 12 year old boys look up at the justice building in horror, as if it was a whipping post. Though I've had no real experience with whippings, Allma has been whipped before...

I move my memories from that as I look back towards the others. After a few minutes, the District 11 mayor shows up and he begins to do the annual things we do on reaping day. He gives us the welcome, recites the Treaty of Treason, and sets the stage for our District escort Leto.

He quickly grabs the mic. "Welcome District 11, to the 100th Annual Hunger Games. As always, may the odds forever be in your favor." He says very quickly. His voice is high pitched and annoying and he speaks as if he's going to be shot before he can manage his last words.

I roll my eyes as he begins to explain what we already know.

2 arenas. 48 tributes. We should get the jist by now but... oh well...

"Anyways. Like always, ladies first." He puts his hand in the reaping bowl for girls. Of course, I already feel bad for the female whose name is being picked. _Wonder who that'd be..._

"Soya Sorana." Syrio reaps the first name. Our heads turn to the 12 year old section. A small 14 year old girl walks out of the crowd, her head down. She is wearing a bright yellow dress and some pretty good shoes.

"Isn't that..." Someone whispers. I realize who this girl after a few seconds. _That's the mayors youngest daughter..._

About everyone looks back up to the mayor who barely changes expression. It's as if something told him this would happen this year. Syrio doesn't notice or care though.

"Oh, our first young lady for the games. Now, for our next." He puts his hand back into the female reaping bowl. I lick my lips. Considering how the first name was the mayors daughter, I'm expecting something even worse.

He pulls his hand out of the bowl and quietly unfolds the next name. "Cere... Chere." He pauses for dramatic effect, annoying everyone including the girl he just reaped. This time, a 17 year old girl comes out.

She looks a little less fancy, her hair in front of her eyes. She doesn't seem like she's about to cry. Hell, she even seems like she's seen this coming from a mile away. I gulp as she makes her way to the stage.

Syrio doesn't have anything really to say about her, he just gives her a smile and holds his hand out to shake her hand. However, she just ignores it and keeps her eyes closed on the stage.

As Syrio begins to dip his hands into the reaping bowl for the male names... I question. Considering those two girls up there... what type of charade is 11 playing over here? And besides that, does it mean something?

He pulls out the next name. After quickly opening it, he reads the name. "Allma Wilden." Then everything goes silent for a second for me.

I'm lost... lost in my thoughts. I find myself helplessly looking over the heads of the 12...13, 14, 15 year olds, trying to find my brother in the heads. "A-Allma?" I quietly say.

He begins to get out of the 16 year old section. His face... filled with complete shock. "Allma?" I repeat, though this time I don't repeat it to myself. He turns to me as he goes to the stage.

"ALLMA!" I shout, wanting to break free and drag him back. However, I stop myself. I can't... "Altar!" He yells in my direction, however, he orders me to stay back.

 _"Please don't go..."_ I whisper to myself as he heads up the stage. He jumps onto the stage. He has a completely neutral face. He's calm, silent and quiet. But he's still been reaped... _he isn't coming back..._

I find myself close to tears as he gives me a nod. My hand curls into a ball. I find myself willing to punch somebody. This can't be happening... this can't be happening... this just can't be happeni-,

"Al-, Altar Wilden?" Someone says. I look up again. After a few seconds everyone turns their heads to me. I give a confused look. _Some said my name right?_ "Altar Wilden." Syrio repeats my name.

Did he just say... my name?

I look up to my brother. His face is filled with even more shock than when he was reaped. I don't even move for a few seconds. "Altar Wilden, your presence is needed upon this stage!" Syrio yells across the sqaure.

By now, every head has turned to me and I grit my teeth before storming upon the stage. _This isn't real! This makes no sense! None of this should be happening right now!_

I shake with anger as I reach the top of the stairs. "Oh so I see. You two are related huh? Brothers?" Syrio asks. I am tempted to punch him across the jaw since I'm up here, but my brother answers the question for him.

"Yes. Brothers." He sadly admits. The other non-reaped children of 11 look up in horror at the revelation. Two brothers... reaped into the games... Besides that, this is one of the few times siblings have been reaped.

This cannot be a happy accident...

"Well 11. Give it up for our District 11 tributes!" Syrio shouts. A few adults in the back give a quiet applause but it isn't much. The fact of the matter is that even they know this is just a cruel thing to do...

After that, peacekeepers shove us through the doors of the justice building and then the doors shut...

* * *

 ** _Hours later..._**

* * *

As me and Allma sit silently in the same room of the Justice Building, I find myself banging my head against the window. "Alt, you realize that won't do anything but give you a concussion right?" He tells me.

"What do you know about concussion? I'm the only one who has actually tried an education." I remind him. He rolls his eyes, clearly trying to make the most out of our situation. However, what can we say... we're both possibly dying.

At that moment, momma comes bursting through the doors and she tightly hugs us. "I don't understand. The Capitol..." She comes close to crying. Momma holds us both tightly.

"Did we do something? Is their something that could... get them to hate us?" Allma asks. Momma breathes out. "No. Probably not. But as you saw, the female reapings were possibly rigged. I'm honestly saying that... these had to have been rigged." Mom tells us.

However, Allma pushes her off of him. "We can tell. How could two siblings suddenly be reaped together?" Allma reminds her. "I don't know but something about us stands out." She thinks.

After a brief silence... I remember something important to her. "Rue." I say. Allma and Momma both turn their heads to me.

"That's right... Aunt... Rue...'' Allma licks his lips, reminding momma. She turns her head away once again. "I can't bring myself to remind myself of those days... It's all in the past isn't it?" She says.

"Maybe they thought it'd sound funny." I admit. Allma glares at me. "Yeah but that doesn't exactly change things. We're going in." He admits. Finally, momma breaks down.

"But why? Why would they send in you two. My perfectly grown child... Allma... and poor... poor... Altar." She hugs me. I can't help but stay away from mom sometimes... but seeing her like this makes me feel terrible.

"Mom. We'll come back." Allma says, looking out the window. Momma shakes her head in annoyance. "Boy. I'm not into your jokes! This is real! You know it! You knew it the moment you saw your little brother! We'll come home... the chances are short." She snaps at Allma.

"If I'm lucky, I'll bring Altar back." He says, giving a sad look over to me. "Allma... you... you shouldn't half to though." I tell him.

"You're too young. I don't want to see your blood." Allma says, closing his eyes. Soon though, the peacekeepers come in.

"Times up." One says. Momma stands up. "B-But don't I get more time?" She asks.

"Time to go!" They move her out of the door and once again, me and Allma are sitting alone in the room. Though the place is very fancy. Colorful couches and a table in the center, we leave the lights out... We just don't care.

As my mind seems to drift away... one thing remains on my mind... "We didn't get to say goodbye to her..." I say to myself. Allma looks back down to my from the window.

"I know... they're gonna pay for that." He grits his teeth...

* * *

 **Alright, first chapter completed. I've actually done a 100th Hunger Games story a long while ago back in 2015. It kind of sucked though...**

 **Anyways, this one is different. In this story, we have our two main characters: Alma (Pronounced All-Ma) and Altar. These two brothers are purposely reaped into the 100th Hunger Games for little reason other than to prove a point to the Districts.**

 **If you've read the 99th Hunger Games, there is some info regarding purposeful rigged reapings in the 99th Hunger Games meaning certain things...**

 **Oh yeah, this is a sequel of sorts to the 99th Hunger Games (Quiet Rebel) and because of that, references are made to that event. Though none have been made so far, they will begin popping up in the Capitol (The recent victor and the 98th Hunger Games victor have some controversy surrounding them). Hope you enjoyed this first chapter and I also hope it interests you.**


	2. An Omen (Train Rides)

As me and Alma find ourselves sitting together on the train ride, I notice that he keeps glancing at the two female tributes

Though his eyes keep looking up at Ceres who is angrily glaring at the ground. I also find myself looking back and forth between the ground and Alma. My thoughts still sway back and forth. _Why? Just why?_ However, I'm not crying so I guess that's a start...

Even then, as the train continues speeding through grassy plains and towards the great beyond, I find myself missing momma... and even District 11.

I shake my head. _Did I really just say I miss 11?_ Well, considering the circumstances of the situation... I'd rather be home... Even so, I keep looking back to Alma for his thoughts.

His face shows pure resentment as we speed along. Meanwhile, Cere and Soya are both glaring at the floor but they keep looking back at us. By this point, we've been doing this for over half an hour.

"So... what are you in for?" Cere finally speaks up, sounding cold and unemotional. Soya raises her head and turns to Ceres. Soya is clearly the only one who cried. Her eyes were very red by the time we got on the train.

"What are we in for? We haven't targeted the Capitol. Can I assume you have?" Alma asks. Ceres gives a grin. "Of course, I burned a bunch of crops. Corn, wheat, you get my point. Though it's taken until now for them to track my name down. Thankfully, they decided to put me in the Hunger Games since I'm obviously coming out alive." She admitted.

"I doubt it. We're in for a mess." Soya said, quietly. Ceres only rolled her eyes. "Are you saying that I don't have a chance. Maybe you three don't, but I'm obviously coming back to haunt the Capitol." She claims.

Alma stands up. "Actually, I believe me and Altar will be attempting to make it back. We're gonna make sure they pay for making us unable to say goodbye to momma." Alma says.

Ceres only rolls her eyes. "Keep dreamin boys. I've fought all my life, nothin is keeping me down." Ceres bragged. By this point, I've found myself annoyed at the girl. The sun is already mostly down at the point and we still haven't even seen our mentor.

"Well our mentor is... too old so I can assume they aren't showing up any time soon." Soya admitted. I facepalm. "Well that's just great. We're on our own for now." I roll my eyes.

Allma puts his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. Even on our own, we've got this." He admitted. I sigh, not believing a word of what he just said. However, from what I can tell, not even Syrio is going to bother.

At this time, we see the Capitol seal show up on the television screen. "Oh yeah. Almost forgot about the reaping replays." Ceres admits. I look back to the screen. I'm actually pretty thankful that we have our reapings late in the afternoon considering a few things.

For one, we get on the train right on time for the replays. That and we get to miss the replays of every single Hunger Games before so. Yeah, the usually replay just the recent games but they chose to replay every event since its inception. I lay my head back a bit. I want to relax a bit as the replays begin, but I clearly am unable to.

At the moment it began, we were at the 80th or so games... we ignored it until now.

The reapings begin with Ceaser Flickerman Junior. He has a smile on his face as he welcomes all the viewers to the replays of the reapings from each District. He begins talking about how grateful he is to be able to be the host of the show and the games. As he finishes talking, it heads out to the Districts.

 **District 1**

A 15 or so girl is reaped before suddenly, someone volunteers in her place. The girl who volunteers has a silent but confident smile on her face. As the next one is reaped, someone else quickly volunteers in her place. This happens again with the boys as well. At the end, we have 4 volunteers with smug grins on their face. They seem to look almost happy.

 **District 2**

We get here and two girls are reaped. One of them has a volunteer... the other doesn't... She has a very shaken face when realizing nobody volunteered for her. However, the boys have two volunteers. Hooray for them?

 **District 3**

No volunteers. A young girl, an older girl who glares at the camera before giving it a rude gesture. Expected from 3... The boys, one smaller boy and one much older one. He rolls his eyes to the camera...

 **District 4**

We actually get three volunteers from this District to my surprise. However, what makes it even stranger is that the first two seem like our legit careers while the third... an 18 year old girl randomly takes the place of an even younger girl. She seems a little worried about her odds.

 **District 5**

Ceres actually gets up a little more... interested in the 5th District. We don't bother questioning it as we watch the tributes from this District get up to the stage. A 14 year old boy is called to the stage. _He looks like the boy from last year in fact. However, an older kid quickly volunteers and quickly takes his place._

 **District 6**

No volunteers. 4 kids are reaped... tears, worry, anguish, a neutral sigh to the camera. The 4 children give different outlooks and I'm left baffled by how little hope District 6 has.

 **District 7**

Unlike last year where 7 had two volunteers, this year they have none. A small girl takes the stage, clear fear in her eyes. The next girl is also as small as her. She seems to be shaken up. The first boy to be reaped is pretty young as well. This is odd... these younger tributes... He breaks down in tears. Our final boy is tall and looks like he can do pretty well.

 **District 8**

District 8 shows up. They seem to have been recovering from the accident from last year pretty well. First up, the first girl who is called up is pretty old. Her emotions are hard to tell but she looks only frustrated... That's quite surprising. The next female is once again... a young girl. Though this time around the 14, 15 mark. Alma begins to glare at the TV. He's begun to notice the pattern.

Then comes the males. The male tribute walks up the stages with a face of worry and shock. The next one... he seems to cry as he moves up the stage.

 **District 9**

Our eyes actually focus up here this time. Considering the fact that 9 won the previous games... we feel kind of interest to see what tributes they bring to the table. First off... a 14 year old looking girl comes up to the stage. She has no clear emotion. Just annoyance. However, on stage, she turns to the victor of the 99th Games (Dagan Hadoka). His face clearly says something is not right with her being reaped. He tugs on his shirt collar before the next name is called.

Another girl, a lot older this time, is reaped. She seems to slowly get to the stage. Her face is filled with anguish. Close to crying. She can't hide her emotion. The boy... the boy is a 15 year old. He seems to be close to hyperventilating. As he reaches the stage, he turns to the victor of the 99th Games.

I can tell that Dagan (Victor of the 99th games) is sweating. Something is not right with 9's reapings...

Finally, we see a 17 or so boy get reaped and he quietly walks up the stage. A face of pure horror. He seems on the verge of vomiting...

 **District 10**

Nothing really happens here actually. Nothing noteworthy outside of one of the older girls flipping the bird to the camera.

"I like her. I hope I get paired with her." Ceres laughs. Alma only rolls his eyes in annoyance.

 **District 11**

We pop up finally. Soya comes up first. Her face is filled with pure terror. The next one to be reaped is of course, Ceres. I notice something I didn't originally notice. Her face is filled with pure rage as she walks up the stage. She pulls some of the hair from the front of her face. Next, Alma is called. Alma actually had quiet the shocked expression when he began to get out of his section. As he walks along, he looks through the crowd before I begin shouting his name.

He closes his eyes before breathing in and keeping his head high. However, his face has a very sorrowful expression. _Maybe the thought of leaving his little brother behind him hurt him more than the thought of dying..._

However, the fact of the matter is that I'm picked next. Even the commentators are shocked. One of the few and rare occurrences. It's only happened once or twice they think. Siblings... in the Hunger Games. Obviously, this is the first and only time when they are both brothers. I make my way up the stage. My teeth show fear and worry. I begin hyperventilating as I make my way up the stage.

I turn to my brother... worry clear in my eyes.

 **District 12**

Nothing much here... we're still busy taking in the replays of our reapings. As we continue our thoughts, Syrio walks in.

"Bad time?" He asks. We all turn to him. "No." Alma answers him. Syrio smiles as he walks into the room. "We have dinner ready if anyone wants so-," He begins. However, we don't even let him finish as we all jump out of our seats and run through the door to get our dinner...

* * *

 ** _Not very long after..._**

* * *

As I continue licking my fingers after eating so much food, I look up and notice the horrified expressions on Syrio and Soyas faces. Alma finishes eating and gives me a smile.  
I somehow manage to give a smile back. Ceres gives an annoyed look at Soya. "What? Are we offending you by eating?" Ceres growls. Soya rolls her eyes. Alma also gives an annoyed glance at Ceres who seems annoyed.

"Well... I'm not used to seeing people eat like that." Soya admits, quietly. Ceres only scoffs. "Yeah, that's because your the mayors daughter and you just so happen to get more than us. Hell, you probably don't work as much as we do." Ceres angrily shouts.

Alma's annoyed glance turns into a glare. "We see you're point. Here's my problem though. You shouldn't just talk to people like that." Alma argues. Ceres only turns to Alma and laughs.

"Yeah, well she doesn't deserve to survive. I'll give her like... 30 seconds tops." She laughs. By this point, I get out of my seat and leave, already tired of this girl. I turn around before I leave.

Soya seems to be coming close to crying now. "You should stop trying to stand up to me. I'll make sure the games come early." Ceres grabs Alma's shirt collar, putting her fist close to his face and threatening him.

By this point, Soya just breaks down and runs through the door. I look behind me and just give a sigh, shaking my head. Soya runs to her room, I begin to head to my room.

As I do, I close my doors and finally feel the impact of the day. I miss momma already. I've had Allma with me though... I don't miss home as much because of that. I take off my socks and shoes as I sit upon my bed... thinking.

I feel the impact of the games to come forming around me... I feel the dread... the worry... the fear.

"Am I going to die? Is... this..." I feel my heart pulse beginning to rise, tears swelling. With Alma, I found myself comforted. However, I begin to realize what all this means.

I lose. That's all that happens. If I win, I still lose. I lose my brother. Besides that, how would I win? Hiding? Yeah, fair chance. Considering I'm obviously one of the youngest this year...

Someone else would probably kill me right away. I put my head into a pillow and find myself dreading the next day. "Alma... Momma... I need you all..." I say to myself before turning over in my bed...

* * *

 _This story isn't my priority at all but I found myself typing away when writing these chapters. In the original draft, we were going to go back and check some of the first few Hunger Games and even see how the 74th Hunger Games played out in this timeline (In the original, this did happen). However, I changed my mind and decided to just focus on our male and female characters._

 _I really wanted to bring out some more of Ceres considering I never EVER focused on the female tributes of 11 during my first two drafts. However, I knew Ceres would be pretty fun to write. Just I needed a little more from Soya..._

 _Anyways, I wanted to try and flesh out our District 11 tributes. Altar, the young one and the worryful one. He's actually a semi-scholar or as close as one as you can get in 11. Alma is a hardworking older brother who comforts his younger brother at every chance he gets. This is because of the sad fact that his father was never around in his life..._

 ** _District7axemurder -_** _It really isn't a coincidence... Oh, glad your excited for the story. Funnily enough, I have very little interest in the food Districts for some reason. I did 9 in the previous story since it was barely cared for in the real series. In this story... It's hard to explain. Long story short, back when I originally wrote the idea, I wanted to have 11 because I thought 11 was close to where I live in real life..._

 _I was totally off but it was a funny thought..._

 _I was tempted to age Altar a few years but I changed my mind. I was also a little worried about Rue being related to Altar considering how people hate that stuff in fanfics... but I thought I could write it out. Thanks._

 ** _cjborange -_** _That awkward moment when we're both working on 100th Hunger Games stories... Heh, anyways I'm glad you took time to read this and even enjoyed it._

 _Fun Fact: The 100th Hunger Games was originally based upon a dream I had when I was 11 or so (At the time I began to get into the Hunger Games). In this dream, their were two arenas and also my older brother was there... No Altar is not a self-insert._


	3. Painted Black (Chariots)

As I lay across a table, wondering when my stylist will come in... I continue thinking about all of the events that have led to this point in time. The reapings, the train ride... oh god the train ride.

When I found myself waking up, I saw my older brother sitting on my bed. He didn't smile, he sighed instead. As he woke me up, we went outside and we saw the Capitol in person. We entered the train station and after that, were sent to the tribute center. Now here we are...

I'm currently already annoyed by the 5 hours I've been here. I've spent that time getting washed off by the stylists who comment on how dirty I am for a 12 year old boy. Thankfully, they're done scrubbing me. Currently though, I'm still trying not to fall asleep as I wait for my stylist.

 **"CREEEEEEK!"** The door begins to creek open. I blush and quickly cover myself. When the door fully opens, it reveals a middle aged looking woman. Her hair is mostly hidden by a bandanna that extends around her short hair. Though, it spills out of this bandanna and in front of her face.

Her hair is a deep purple, confusing looking. She has a smile that totally looks sewed on her face because it does not let down. She walks into the room with a big grin on her face as she walks over to me. "Well hello their. I'm assuming that you're Altar?" She asks.

I give a nod. "Alright then. For a 12 year old, you seem pretty cut-," She begins. "Don't go there. I'm still 12." I remind her. She sighs, keeping the smile on her face. "Well, the Capitol will love you. My idea will work on your size the best. Oh, I didn't get to say my name. I'm Pan." She says. She grabs my robe and hands it to me.

This woman only seems partially oblivious to the fact that I'm annoyed with her. However, her grin has me curious. It's like she's playing a sort of game to see where I'll go with this.

* * *

 ** _Far Later..._**

* * *

After much anticipation and after much more tiring makeup work that goes on for endless hours at a time... The costume is finally done. Granted, I'm obviously not impressed by the design. "Farmers... Obviously." I say to Pan who only gives me a smug grin.

"Obviously. You're not impressed are you? You're not supposed to be impressed yet." She says, smiling anyways. I only give her a confused face before looking to the door. Wonder if the others are close to done. As soon as I turn my head back, she shows me my face in the mirror. I look kind of ordinary... which is abnormal considering this is the chariot rides we're talking about.

"You look a lot less stressed now." She smiles to me. I scoff but she moves me out of the room and into the main area for the 11th area of the tribute center. Here, I finally get to see Alma who has an aggressively annoyed face.

He actually seems more angry than he had before hand when we were reaped and unable to say goodbye to momma. He turns his head over to me. "This is easily the most uninteresting looking costume I have ever seen..." Soya admits quietly, walking from her dressing room. Of course, this being one of the few times she's bothered to speak, this is probably the most serious uninteresting costumes in history.

Eventually, Ceres finally comes into the picture. She's glaring even larger than before. Alma laughs at the costume. I think she was the only person the costume designers actually bothered putting makeup on. Her eyes have a blue-ish purple design around the edges that make her eyes look like flowers.

"Hm. You all look pretty good." A man walks in now. He has brown hair, relatively pale skin and green eyes. This guy is easily the stupidest looking of our designers. Alma just rolls his eyes as he checks all of our outfits.

"I like it. Everybody here seem very... clean and 11." He nods to his assistants. The other two, another man and a women, bow their heads to him. He pats my head like a pet before looking over to the others.

"Ms. Chere looks the best." He gives a smile to which Ceres responds with a deep glare. Soya backs up a bit and even Alma looks prepared for a fight. However, he continues smiling like an oblivious idiot and moves over to the elevator. "Early bird gets the worm." He motions us to the elevator.

As we all get stuffed in the elevator, he goes quiet and we're left looking around and thinking. Alma looks down at me. "I know you kind of don't want to... but Alt, you really need to smile when we get out there..." Alma tells me.

I sigh. "Sure. Whatever." I reply. Alma then turns his head to Ceres who continues to glare over at the main stylist. The man continues to give a radiant smile at all of us.

"What's your name by the way?" I ask. He looks down at me. "Oh, I'm Huss. Stylist of 13 years." He tells us, facing the elevator door now. As the elevator continues going down, we're knocked back into silence once more.

"Also, Ceres... can you not... strip midway through our act?" Huss asks Ceres. She only rolls her eyes and gives a smug grin. "How'd you know?" She asks. I roll my eyes, praying that this elevator ride will end.

Finally, the doors open and we find ourselves moving through the doors and into the area that leads to the area where the chariots are. As we walk along the path to the chariot area, I notice Soya coming close to breaking down and crying.

I quickly tell her not to cry yet, as we have to make our impression. However, that only knocks her further closer to tears and I'm left with a slap to the head from Alma.

We finally get to the chariot area. All the Districts but 5, 6, 9 and 10 are here. Huss looks around the area, observing the other designs. I also observe the designs, but it's around this time that the District 9 tributes come in and I quickly go over to observe their outfits.

However, it doesn't look like anything special so I turn back to the other districts.

"Hm. So it seems District 1 stepped up their game by an inch. But just an inch." Someone behind us jokes. I ignore them, continuing my thought procce-,

"Hm. District 2 is once again their generic gods and goddess things... meh... 3... Eh, an improvement. The neon look pretty cool, I'll admit." The woman behind us continues. By this time, I notice Huss' smile dropping for the first time. He gives a sigh and closes his eyes as the woman behind him continues.

"District 4. Different I guess. But these tributes are not Finnick. Those fishing outfits are too tight. I almost feel bad." She sighs. "You should." One of the male 4 tributes admits, though he isn't happy about his outfit.

The woman walks in front of us, now I think I know how Huss knows her. The woman seem like a young woman, purple-blue-ish hair. She looks over to the District 5 tributes.

"Well to be fair... last years District 5 design has grown on me a bit so I'll give some credit." She begins. District 6 shows up. Their outfits seem to be an all white outfit with some giant wings on the sides... representing something...

"Oh no." She laughs. The District 6 tributes only roll their eyes as they walk along. She turns to us next. "Nothing new here in 11... but why did you put makeup on the girl edgy one?" The woman asks.

Ceres' face goes straight up black. She glares angrily at the woman and begins to angrily storm over there. "Ceres. Wait!" Huss yells over to Ceres, holding her back. The District 9 tributes all watch in horror as Ceres and Huss struggle. Ceres eventually gets back and walks over to where the rest of us stand. I roll my eyes as Huss walks over to the young stylist.

"Hello Anat. Long time no see." He waves. She smiles back, but I can see the resentment. "Oh, hello Huss. It's been a while." She replies. So from what I can tell in the conversationt that begins because of this, we learn that Huss taught Anat everything she knew, Anat left because she let her ego get the best of her and now she's been jumping between Districts since the 96th games.

Alma is busy watching the group from 9. I notice why he looking over their. He's noticing that the victor from last years games is over there for some reason. Considering how their aren't any other mentors showing up, I guess I can see why he's looking over their.

The victor from last year, Dagan of District 9, won his games in a confusing finale that I can barely even recall. He, the District 3 female and the girl from 9 all fought against the remaining careers. He and his District partner both survived, but the girl from 1 shot at the girl from 9 leaving Dagan as the victor.

Even though last year was convoluted and crazy, it was one of the most horrifying even on the levels of the 98th games. I cringe remembering the events of the 98th games. I want to forget them... I think the Capitol would love for me to do the same.

As I continue thinking, the other Districts all show up and we are slowly motioned to our chariots. I feel myself tensing up as we get up on the horses. As I sigh, Alma slaps me across the head. I look up and notice that he's giving me a smile. "Don't be nervous. If they don't love us, that's the way they'll be. Smile." He tells me. He then turns his head to Ceres who is rolling her eyes.

"Don't bother." He tells her. "I'm not going to strip." She argues. "No. He means you don't give any rude gestures." Soya explains. Ceres only rolls her eyes once again. Huss looks up to us, checking if he truly likes the design.

"When you get out... you'll notice something... cool, happening." He tells us. Me and Alma exchange glances. _What does he mean?_

Well anyways, the anthem begins blasting outside and it's so loud that I literally almost fall out of the chariot. Thankfully though, Alma grabs my hand and pulls me back up.

"Thanks." I nod. Eventually, the giant gates open and the District 1 tributes begin riding off and the others begin to follow. Even though we aren't moving out yet, I can see the crowd. It looks terrifying out there.

However, Alma gives me yet another smile, encouraging me to do the same. Eventually, we begin to take off and I feel a little bit of pressure as the chariot steps outside. I breathe out as it does.

I can't make out a full image of what I can see in the crowd but the amount of colors is close to making me blackout. I give my brightness and cutest 12 year old smile at the crowd, hoping they'll love it. Well... they do actually. Thankfully, I'm doing a good job of holding them over at the moment but that's also when I look over to Ceres who is glaring at the crowd with an totally not excited glare.

I roll my eyes while continuing when I suddenly notice my farmers outfit... The overalls turn bright green. I notice vines growing and flowers sprouting as the chariots continue. My eyes are filled with complete shock, but I manage to hold onto my smile. Alma surprisingly isn't able to as he looks at our outfits. He looks back up at the crowd with a confident but neutral look.

Other plants and flowers continue growing on our outfits as we our chariot goes on (Though I can't help but take note at Ceres who is annually ripping off all of the flowers appearing on her outfit) I begin to breath a little and I find it easier to smile.

Finally though, our chariot stops and we find ourselves right in front of President Ramia. He stands high up on a podium in a black suit. It has a white rose sticking out of the front pocket.

He calms the crowd and begins his annual speech. "Greetings tributes. Welcome to the Capitol and the 100th Annual Hunger Games. We salute your courage, sacrifice and your services in the 4th Quarter Quell. We wish you a happy Hunger Games. May the odds forever be in your favor." He says before walking off the podium.

The District 5 Female scoffs. "His speeches are getting shorter and shorter every year." She admits. One of the District 9 tributes actually looks over to the 5 tribute and comes close to laughing.

Well afterwards, our chariots turn themselves around and we find ourselves going back inside. As I turn around, I see the gates close once more and now I don't think I'll ever see the outsides ever again...

Anyways, I jump out of the chariot, feeling a bit dizzy now. Though all of the things we did still swoosh around my head like water. Huss applauds the four of us. "Pretty good. Pretty good." He nods. The stylist from District 9 (Anat, I think) also nods. "Wow. What a comeback." She nods.

"Yeah. I've been stealing from you." He laughs. Anat doesn't laugh. "I really hope you aren't..." She sighs, like this has happened before.

We begin to head back to our rooms. Ceres has a creepy grin on her face. "Tomorrow is the day we learn of our partners. I can't wait. They know who I'm compatible with." She snarls.

Alma rolls his eyes. "Better hope the ruin your chances by putting you with a smaller tribute." He says. "He's got a point actually. The games would be ruined if they put all of the bigger tributes together." I admit.

"Of course a kid like you. Being former scholar and all." Ceres rolls her eyes. I look up to her. "Wait? How'd you know?" I ask. She only scoffs... not responding at all...

 _I don't want to know what tomorrow will look like..._

* * *

 **I think I did too many callbacks to the 99th Games. I mean, I meant to kind of have some callbacks to the old cast but I kind of went a little overboard...**

 **What do you guys think of the designs and characters introduced in this chapter? Thanks for reading.**


	4. Trainers, Rebels and Fakers (Training)

I find myself waking up, groggily. For a second, I'm a little confused as to where I am. Though, it doesn't take me too long to remember exactly where I am at the moment. The Capitol. Preparing for the 100th Hunger Games. I slam my head against my pillow in response. Worry already fills my heart and holds me down. _Today is training right? I... I have to meet up with other tributes today, right? Great. Just great._

I eventually pull myself out of the bed and notice that my clothes are on the door not too far away. I breathe out as I pick them up. A red and black shirt that has the number 11 on the back. Nothing very special, but it's here for training.

I put the shirt on and notice some pants not too far off. I put those on as well. They fit me perfectly. As I look at myself in the mirror, I notice my older brother peaking his head through the door. "Good morning." He waves. I walk out of my room and see that avoxs are preparing to serve breakfast.

Ceres sits at the table, her head down and staring at her own feet. Soya is looking over at us with a mysterious look on her face. Right next to her though... is an old woman that I think I can recognize a little.

"Wait? You're... Willow Poppa?" I say, running over to the table. She looks up to me. Her hair is in a grey ponnytail and she just looks up at me. "Victor of the 67th Hunger Games." She replys.

"Well. At least we know one of them are alive." Ceres rolls her eyes. Alma quickly slaps her across the head. Ceres comes extremely close to starting a fight but she just sits back and awaits breakfast. Soya is scraping at her nails. Alma is partially asleep while I can notice a distant grin forming on Ceres's face. _Fantasizing about the tributes we'll meet today?_

Whatever. From what I know, Willow isn't here to mentor us for some reason. I guess she's too old but she seems to be in the talkative mood. She asks a lot about Ceres though Ceres doesn't bother answering much. Though we do get some info on her parents. Apparently, Cere's mother was shot to death. Her dad was killed in a fire. Willow then goes to Soya and asks about life as the mayors daughter.

"Well... We had so much more than the other children in the District. When I was younger, sometimes I'd look around and see people envying me and my sisters. At first, it was confusing... but as I grew much older, than I got to understanding." Her voice quietly fades. You can tell, she has a hard time talking about her life in 11.

However, Willow turns to me and Alma. "What about you two boys? I heard that you were both brothers. What could possibly have gotten you into such heat?" She asks. I look up to my brother for anything. However, he only shrugs.

"We don't really know. We originally blamed it on our Aunt, Rue. But she's been dead for decades now. She didn't even do anything wrong to th-," I begin. However, Willow interrupts me. "Wait? You're both related to that girl?" Rue?" She asks.

Me and Alma both nod at once. She stops for a moment. She seems to be remembering her time as a mentor. Obviously, she must have mentored the girl at some point.  
"Well... any other facts about you two?" She asks after a brief silence.

By this point, Soya and Ceres are already digging into their breakfast. However, me and Alma seem to have a hard time touching our food. "I went to school." I admit after a while. Soya quickly raises her head. "Oh. I think I... recall somebody like you. You were on of the youngest and poorest their." She says.

"Huh? 11 has a school?" Ceres asks. Alma nods. "Yeah. A very small school for only those who want their children to not work in the fields. Alt here went to school for most of his life instead of working in the fields." He puts his hand on my shoulder. For a few seconds, I feel some nostalgia. Being in the schoolroom with other students was very fun... but I wanted to help my brother, mother and father out there...

"Yeah... but didn't you leave eventually?" Soya asked. I slowly lower my head. Alma licks his lips. "We... We don't like talking about the reasons." He admitted. Eventually, we both began to eat.

Ceres than spoke up. "I see. That's why the younger one speaks with a more professional tone in comparison to other people in 11." She admits. "It matters on your version of professional." I sigh.

Eventually, we finish and decided it'd be best to go head to training. Willow salutes us and we all head to the elevator.

* * *

As the elevator slowly descends down to the training center, I swallow my spit. This is the first time I'll actually be able to see most of the competition in person. Soya is also shaking a little. Ceres has her arms folded as she stares at the door. Alma is looking up, though he keeps glancing down at me.

As the elevator finally opens, we find ourselves in the training area. Already here are the District 2 teens, District 3 tributes and also District 9. I take a deep breath as we all get off the elevator and walk around.

The center actually has a multitude of different training areas that seem like good practice for pre-games. I really don't think I can fight with throwing knives or anything, not like I use them for a living. _Maybe I can fight with them hand to hand though..._

One of the District 2 males seems to be fighting against a trainer, practicing his skills. The others are just sitting around and waiting. It takes a while for other tributes to begin flooding the room and after a while, all 48 tributes are in the room. Surprisingly, they don't crowd the entire room as we are called by the gamemakers.

 **"Greetings tributes. Just like every year, we welcome you to the training center. Before we show you the pairs, some rules. No fighting is permitted in the training center. Obviously, you have time to do that in the arena. Anyways, we recommend training with survival tools if you're already skilled with other weapons. Even if you aren't, it would be good to spend time trying traps and things like that. Now, training will officially begin. We have a large sign over that reveals your other partner."**

We all quickly dash to the board that shows each tribute and their partner. Though it is way too crowded over by the board, I'm actually able to see my name. Next to my name... the District 6 Female...

I sigh. Of course, I get a girl. That and she's from six. Though to be fair, I'm lucky it isn't a career. They don't exactly need supplies or anything meaning that killing me wouldn't change anything in the long run.

Whatever, I try and squirm my way out of the crowd and I just barely do that. Then, I look around. From what I can see... there seem to be so many places to try new things with. Though I'm tempted to try weapons, I don't think I'll do too well.

Because of this, I quickly head over to the fire making section so I can distract myself while watching the other tributes train. Though immediately after I grab the stick and begin trying to make the fire, I find myself confused over how it works. _It seemed easier than what it really is..._

I'm so annoyed by it that I don't even know of the amount of people circling around the area. After realizing the amount of people around me, I look up to see who these people are.

"Are you guys here for an alliance?" I immediately ask, looking back down to the fire. Two District 5 tributes and another from 9 both stand above me. "Huh? How'd you know? Uh... well we were thinking of it but-," One of them begins. "Yeah, no." I reply.

As I begin to get up and walk off, I find myself moving over to an area that seems to be attracting some of the younger tributes. "It's like the playground from back at home." The District 3 female says. _A playground? I actually don't know what those are..._

As I get closer to the structure, I notice the few that are over here. The young girl from 2, The small District 3 Male, the small District 3 female, the District 6 female and one of the boys from 12. Right as I get over there, they all turn to me.

"So. You here to train." The boy from 3 asks. It takes me a moments to actually find my voice and respond. "In a way, I guess?" I say. Though, I just turn around and walk off. However, I'm find myself bumping into the District 1 male.

"Hey kid. You lost?" He looks down and gives me a smug grin. I give him a confused look? "Are you? The action is that way." I point behind myself to the younger tributes. He laughs. "Oh. I think you should be over their. It's necessary for you safety." He jokes.

Now I'm annoyed. "Oh really?" I play along. "Yes. Playing with knives is dangerous for a child like you." He says. I sigh. "I play with fire back in 11. Knives are nothing new." I say.

By now, I can feel the gaze of those other young tributes. "Alright. Let's see if you're joking or not." He motions me over to the knives area. "Uh. I... I guess." I breathe in. I find myself near the other careers who all seem to be keeping in their laughter. I'm handed a knife and I'm in front of a few targets. Of course, I actually have used knives before. _Just we don't throw them in 11..._

Even then, I'm forced to at least try. "Hey. Don't worry. Only one shot. One shot to screw this over. Hell, if you make it... I'll probably let you live in through the bloodbath." He gives me a fake smile. I glare up at him. I wonder where Alma is during all of this...

I sigh before aiming the knife at the target. I quickly release it, throwing it at the target.

"WHACK!" The knife manages to hit not too far off from the target. I look up to the District 1 Male. "Yeah... about that one shot?" I tell him. He only rolls his eyes. "F*ck. I actually didn't think that would happen..." He sighs. I notice Alma behind me. He puts his hand on my shoulder and smiles down at me. I give a smile in return.

"So. Older 11. We saw you training over there." The District 2 career girl says to my brother. He turns to the careers. "Would you like the join us?" She asks. My brother shakes his head. "I'll be too busy protecting little Alt over here." He says to me.

The girl rolls her eyes. "Really now? Question: How long do you think your little brother will actually last?" She asks. Alma just shrugs. "Why do you ask. Maybe I'm just being paranoid and he can take care of himself." He says.

By this point, I'm walking back to the area of the other younger tributes. "Well 11. You just showed him." The boy from 12 admits. I laugh a little. "I'd say I did. Just don't expect me to pull that during the games." I admit, looking back at my hands.

I never really thought about my skills with the knife. I'm a little worried in fact... will I have to kill someone to survive the first arena? Maybe. Maybe not. I sigh as I sit up and watch some of the older tributes practice.

The groups from 9 and 5 are having a quiet conversation. Alma is busy training with a trainer while the careers watch in aw. As I continue watching, someone comes up from behind me.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" Someone asks. I turn around and notice the girl from 6 behind me. "Why? There isn't anything I can do without actually embarrassing myself." I sigh. She rolls her eyes. "Oh really? Like tying knots and burning fires are something you can embarrass yourself with?" She says sarcastically.

"I already know how to do that. We make fires and knots in 11 all the time." I breathe out. She rolls her eyes. "Okay then smart one. You have to try at least ONE thing today." She orders me. I roll my eyes.

"Fine. But don't follow me. Please." I tell her. "Why? We're partners aren't we?" She asks. I sigh. You see... it isn't official until the games begin so I just walk off. From this point onward, I start looking around for things to do.

I'm tempted to just head to the knives section and practice their (Having Experience and all) but... I can't really do that. I don't want anyone to know that I have the capabilities or to know why I have them.

However, by this point I don't really feels as if I should care. I just need to hurry along and get something done today.

* * *

 _ **Some Time Later...**_

* * *

I sit in the fire starting area. I find it coincidental that they put this station right next to the area with all the weapons. I mean, right across from it. Good excuse for me to go and spy on the careers while they train.

However, they seem to be on break and just spend their time laughing and making fun of the weaker tributes. Me included...

I was struggling to begin any spark to my annoyance so I just sat down to watch other tributes train. Sometimes they have trainers teaching the tributes how to use the items... but nobody is here. I find it actually quite peaceful over here when nothings going on. The sound of silence has never been this beautiful. However, I focus my eyes on the careers ahead.

I'm glad they've kept their eyes off me. You know, the one who can't make a fire. I sigh as another tribute comes forward... and than another... and another. After a few seconds, it seems almost all the District 5 tributes and a girl from 9 seem to be sitting far off from me. "Hey. So... you wanting to join our alliance?" The boy from 5 asks. I shake my head. "No. That's stupid." I say.

"Then why are you here?" The girl from 9 asks me. "Uh... because this is a training station." I argue before moving to another station. I sigh as I look around once more. So many tributes. I can't find Alma anywhere in this storm of tributes because of it. However, I think I notice Soya over at a mini-game. From the looks of it, the game is about seeing which plants are poisonous and which ones aren't.

Considering how we're from 11, I would think we'd all know which plants are good and which ones are bad. However, considering she's the mayors daughter... I begin to watch as she seems to fail a lot.

She frantically checks after testing herself with it. From what I can tell, the thing gives you info and you're supposed to think on if it's poisonous or not. It's like at school. They score you on a scale of 1 - 100.

She scores a 35% before she breaks down into tears. I turn around and see the careers coming extremely close to laughing. I roll my eyes in response. I find this utterly sad honestly. Even I come close to crying watching this. Shes two years older than me, failing at a plant test... and she knows she's going to die. I want to go up and try and cheer her up but I don't. I can't bring myself to do anything but watch.

I walk off and leave to another station. However, I'm unable to really find any. Instead, I sit around at a table. I notice a knife on the table so I spend the next 30 minutes watching the other 47 tributes train as I stab the table with a knife out of boredom.

I see myself looking up at the Gamemakers. Currently paying no mind to me. I'm glad. Nothing to exciting about a 12 year old stabbing through a table. I'm tempted to go to the area where the careers are and begin practicing my knife skills. Well, throwing knife skills. Anybody can use knives. However, it isn't exactly something you pick up over night.

That's when I find myself falling into my memories. I remember that school day when I was 8. It was the day after the conclusion to the 96th Hunger Games. Probably one of the most shocking outcomes in Hunger Games history had taken place. The two District 5 tributes attempted a double suicide at the very end. Being the last two, only one could live but they would try and break this outcome...

The boy died suddenly and violently. The girl lived. Her family was gone. Now, the Capitol knew that their was some sort of rebellion being planned in the background of the games... just where did it start and where would it stop?

My teacher had a sinister look on her face as she laid down a pile of knives on our desks. She told us to be careful... and throw them at the wall...

For about two years, I remember that she would teach us how to improve our aim. At first, it was kind of a weekly thing we did inbetween learning... then it became the only thing we'd learn...

Other children were confused and didn't know how to use them. They'd drop out. I didn't. Momma didn't know what was happening. To be fair, neither did I... But I was one of the best when it came to that. I didn't understand why it was important to our teacher... but I found it intriguing.

Eventually, when Momma noticed that I wasn't learning anything new, she stopped spending dads money on it and I dropped out of school just like that. I can assume even two years later that I still have those skills. Even as I stab the table, I'm thinking of how I'm going to hide this skill. When I go back to 11... who's going to get in trouble for me learning this ability. The mayor? My teacher? Momma? Please. Not her...

I sigh as time passes. Eventually, my older brother sits down next to me. "What are you thinking of?" He asks me. I look up, expecting his signature smile to pierce through me. However, he has an exhausted face on. Like nothing matters anymore...

I look back down at the table. "Nothing. Just... after seeing Soya break down like that... I can't bear what will happen to us weaker tributes in the games." I look up at him. "It matters. Maybe me and the boy from 8 will be their to protect you." He admits. However, I didn't realize he just revealed his partner. "Speaking of that. You got the girl from 6, right?" He asks.

I nod. "Heh. Well... don't fall for her or anything. We don't want a 74th Hunger Games do we?" He stands up as all the other tributes begin leaving for the day. I look back up at him. _How can he bring up something like casually..._

* * *

 _ **Night Falls...**_

* * *

As I toss and turn in the night, thinking about all the tributes I saw today, I look up at my ceiling. I'm actually kind of curious. I get up out of my bed, not bothering to put on anything professional. I walk through the dark living areas as I touch the elevator touchpad.

I press a certain number and the doors open. Light enters the room and I quickly enter the elevator, my vision a little tired and blurry. After a while, the elevator doors open once more, I find myself in training area once more. Everything is right as we left it in the day...

Though, all the weapons are confiscated sadly. All... but my knife under the table...

I snatch it up and head over to the knife area.

 _I may be unable to improve my skills over night... but maybe over three nights?_

* * *

 _And thus, concludes this odd chapter. At first, I wasn't interested in doing the training sequence. However, I found it very... intriguing at the end. In the original draft, Altar would just randomly be good a knife throwing. Because that was stupid, he's just good at survival in the 2nd draft. Well now I finally made a good compromise. He went to school... but when rebellion became a big thing following the 96th Games he was taught things up until he was 10._

 _I hope this idea makes sense to you guys? Does it? Tell me. Thanks for reading this chapter. See you again soon!_


	5. Hidden Figures (Training Day 2)

I sit not too far off from my partner in the upcoming 100th Games. The District 6 Female. She seems as annoying as it gets and I'm praying that I'll get a chance to ditch her and do my own thing.

 _Not like I'll be able too though..._

I look to my right. The District 5 tributes and District 9 tributes seem to be forming something. Kind of like last year. Though unlike last year, 11 isn't joining them. Though Soya was hesitant in it.

Me and the girl from 6 (Her name is Byke) sit at the fire making station. I'm really only here to watch the careers train. My brother is also in the area, training with a sword. He's actually pretty good with it. The trainer is having a hard time keeping up with Alma so I'm sure he-,

"What do you think 5 and 9 are planning?" Byke suddenly interrupts my thoughts. I roll my eyes. "An alliance. Like last year." I tell her. I reminded of the outer district alliance from last year. I shake my head at the thought though.

As continue though, I notice how my brother isn't at the sword station anymore. I look around, curious as to where he went. Suddenly though, someone puts their hand on my shoulder. "Hey Alt. You okay?" I look up and notice my older brother. Byke also looks up curiously.

"So you're his older brother?" She asks. "Uh... Yeah I guess." He scratches his hair. Byke turns to me and gives me a grin. "What a nickname. Alt." She laughs. I scoff. "I don't get what's so funny about it honestly." I sigh.

"Well... I only came here to see what you were up to but honestly you don't seem like you're up to much." He admits. I look around. "There's so many people in so many small areas. It's kind of hard for me to really want to bother." I admit. Most of the careers take up some of the areas with things like swords and stuff. However, I notice the girl from 10 and Ceres training over at the area with the spears.

I look over to my far left and notice Soya making snares with her partner, the District 3 female. I look over to the area that the careers occupy. The District 1 female is trying out knives. I'd have no problem going over there and trying them out for myself. Matter of fact, I think it'd be pretty fun to stick it up to the careers. However, I thought of a better option.

Instead of making everyone aware of my capabilities right away, I'll hide it until the moment is right. However, I shake my head at the thought and look up to my older brother who's only staring at Ceres and the girl from 10 as they seem to enjoy teaming with each other.

"Hey... Alma?" I whisper to Alma. He gets on his knees next to me. "Yeah?" He asks. I swallow my saliva. "Can I ask you something... in private?" I ask him. He gives a nod as I stand up and begin walking to the other side of the training room.

"What's your problem Alt?" He asks, curiously. I breathe out... finding it hard to bring this topic up again. "Remember back when I was younger... when I would show you the stuff I'd learn at school. How you didn't want Mamma to know..." I begin.

"... I never thought about that." His eyes widen. He turns around. "They... made you practice with knives at school, right?" He asks. I give a nod.

"Hide this from the other tributes. Don't even let that girl know." He tells me. I give a shocked expression. "Huh? I get hiding it from other tributes but-," I begin. He looks around once again before whispering something else.

"If these tributes know you're like that... they'll flatten you as quickly as they can. And besides that, we don't know what that girl is all about. Be careful." He tells me. I swallow my saliva and give him a nod.

As I begin to walk back to the fire building station, I question my brothers idea. _How long should I hide my skills? Until I'm ready? Until I can't hide it anymore? If I make it past the first arena?_

I groan as these thoughts pester my mind. How long can I get through this. I continue questioning these scenarios until Byke interrupts me with something else. "What was that all about?" She asks.

I sigh. "Some advice for in the arena." I claim. It's only half true but I have to remember, I can't fully trust Byke. She only rolls her eyes as she continues attempting to make a fire. This whole second day has just been tiring for me. Watching the others train... I wonder if I should come back tonight. Last night, I left the knife on the table but it was gone today.

I can assume somebody moved it. I look over towards my brother who is back to practicing with a sword. The careers sometimes look over and glance at him. _I wonder if they still want him on their side..._

However, I remember that I need that knife at the current moment. As I stand up, I notice Byke is about to ask me another question so I just answer what I'm pretty sure she's about to say.

"Over to the area with the careers." I say. She rolls her eyes. "I was about to ask if you knew how much time we had left." She admits. I scoff before walking over to the knife station.

As I do, I find eyes looking on me. The District 2 Male has a smug grin on his face as I pick up a knife. I find myself desperately trying to leave the station as I take the knife. "So. You lost again?" He jokes. I give an unwelcome glare at the boy. He's obviously twice my size but that doesn't stop me from trying to look intimidating. He gives a kind of chuckle.

"If I was lost, I wouldn't be holding this." I hold up the knife. He comes close to laughing loud enough for the whole place to here us. He looks back down on me. "What are you going to do with that thing? Fight me?" He jokes again. I scoff. "I don't know, fight?" I say, taking it with me.

He doesn't bother questioning why I bring it with me. However, I look around as I sneak it under a table... hoping that I can maybe use it later...

* * *

 _ **Following the 2nd day of training...**_

* * *

As the elevator begins to soar up to the District 11 floor, I can't help but sense Ceres's face of satisfaction. "Well it seems somebody had a blast." Alma says, looking over to Ceres. She only gives a sigh but she manages to keep the grin on her face. "Yeah. Well it seems I was right. I am making it home." She admits. Soya only rolls her eyes in annoyance as the doors open.

Willow is already on the couch and seems to be overjoyed at our return. However, we all just ignore her and head out to our individual rooms...

* * *

 ** _Night Falls..._**

* * *

As I begin sneaking out of my room and towards the elevator, I only barely notice Willow out of the corner of my eye. I stop dead in my tracks, not even breathing. I wait for anything... But I hear nothing. She's asleep. Thank goodness.

As I press the buttons on the elevator, I give on more glance backwards. _She's still asleep._

I quickly enter the elevator and press the button that will lead me to the training room. As my eyes adjust to the light, I find myself wondering about what will happen when the careers learn of my abilities.

Will they want me dead? Maybe I'd join them? Well. Every single thought just seems like a fantasy to me. I close my eyes. Fantasies... They're something of a persons imagination. Something that can't be real. For an example, me winning the Hunger Games. I shiver when I say that. I even feel myself slipping over the words in my head.

The thought had never been... you know, real to me. Is there any true chance of me coming back home? Or is it all just my imagination? For the first time, I feel tears coming close to slipping out of my eyes. I knew it was possible that I wasn't coming home. I knew all of that but I quieted myself and planned on thinking about this the moment I realize the cards are stacked against me.

But this isn't a game. I know what I'm up against. I know what I've left behind. I'll... I'll never see momma again will I. I shake my head. I need to stop acting emotional at the worst of times.

The elevator finally opens and I take a deep breathe as I step out. The place is quiet. The air is cold, the lights are out. I'm kind of glad to be alone. I feel compelled to just try and cry but... I feel like somebody is watching me. I always feel like that. I guess being from 11 and all I should expect to get shot if I don't do anything correctly. As I take a few quiet steps over to the table I eat at though... I notice a sound.

I stop breathing. I await any sound. Nothing... well at least until I hear the quiet pace of footsteps. _Oh god somebody is in here!_ I quietly tip toe towards to direction of the sound. I walk past the table and duck under the table. My pulse speeds up like a train. As I stay quiet, I think I hear a whisper.

"Okay. Coast is clear. Thought somebody was in here." A voice whispers. Somebody scoffs. "Why would anybody be down here at the current time?" Somebody admits. After a little bit of silence, they begin speaking again. I want to get up and quietly head to the elevator so they don't notice me... but I'm conveyed to stay and listen on to what they have to say.

"Can we carry on with the plan? Two arenas right? We could possibly get split up. If we do, we need to know what to do." Somebody says. Another silence. From what I can tell, these are just a few kids trying to come up with a survival plan in the arena. _But to be completely honest... I don't know who exactly was in an alliance other than 5 and 9..._

"Come on. Circa, right? Yeah. You should lead in your arena. Now, among the ones who feel they are best to lead. Then you should be in the arena that isn't hers." Somebody else suggests.

"Maybe I could. Of course though, we won't know until we get there." Another girl sighs. Someone sighs at that moment. "Well you all need to hurry this up. If we don't, we won't be coordinated with our plan and the Gamemakers will stomp us into oblivion." Some else sighs.

"And we don't want a repeat of last year do we?" Someone else reminds the group. Everything goes quiet for a few seconds. I stop breathing. For a second, I'm confident that they've possibly discovered that I'm in the room with them. They remain silent as I take a peak. Nobody notices me as they all look down on a certain individual. The kid looks 15, tan skin and brown hair. _One of the kids from 9._

"Sorry." Another kid from 9 apologizes. It's around this time that I notice the abnormal amount of tributes here. There are 10 in a circle. I can assume 4 from 5... but who are these other two. I try and remember what some of the other tributes looked like, but no defining traits stick out.

"We only failed last year because the Capitol screwed the reapings. We expected another 96th but they instead gave us a 25th." Someone speaks up. However, a chill goes down my spine. This voice sounds like a sem-older woman. Like my mother. I peak my head over once more. From what I can see, the voice... is a person who looks pretty old. However, my eyes seem to decisive me. If I squint, she looks barely 18.

Is she a victor or something?

"Unlike last year though, we know what we're up against. Last year the kids from 9 and 5 did their best but failed because they were brats who had no idea what they were doing."

"Botan and I were coordinated last year though! How are you going to be like that this year!" Another voice shouts. I peak my head over... and now I know who this kid is...

 _He won the Hunger Games last year..._

I shake my head as I sit back and continue listening. "We don't know what arena these people have created. Whatever it is, we'll need to find a way to blow it up. Sadly, 3 wasn't interested in joining us." They continue their conversation.

 _The hell? Blowing out the arena?_ Now I see what's going on... They're planning an escape. As if that's possible though. I want to get up and leave no, but I stick back so nobody can hear my movements.

They continue on for hours. Talking about how coordinated they should be or who should lead. The victor is relatively quiet while the one who sounds old but looks young does most of the talking. The older boy from 5 spends his time criticizing her ideas. They casually bring up how the victor of the 98th games obliterated 18 tributes at once by throwing his shoe at the others before the countdown ended.

They also debate how they should have done the previous and 96th games. I'm sitting here confused. However, they continue talking about how this will affect them after.  
"What will happen after we blow out the arena though? W-Will we live? Will we get caught and die?" A younger girl asks. Someone sighs. "Maybe. Just maybe we will give some of the districts the courage to fight." The victor admits.

Once more, the tributes go quiet. As the silence seems to echo across the room... I begin to feel sleepy. I didn't plan on staying in here so long. I'm confident that dawn could come at any second.

However, they continue talking about some plans... Then I get it...

They're staging a rebellious act. I've heard ALL of it. The fact of the matter is... I know their plan. After a few minutes, I quietly move away from my spot and quickly move to the elevator before pressing the button that leads to the rooms.

 _I don't get any training today... though I know more than I should so I guess this works._ The elevator opens, shinning some small light in the room. I hear some shuffling and the sound of somebody bumping into something.

I stop for a few moments before quickly pressing the button to the 11th floor. As the elevator closes, I can make out a small shadow. Though I don't see much because of the light as I'm still getting used to it.

I look up and notice a clock. Only 2. _Damn I've been up for a while..._

I sigh before the doors open. As they open, I enter the District 11 room and quickly head to my room where I jump into the bed. My body feels exhausted and heavy. However, my mind feels even worse. My head feels even more exhausted. I don't know whether to classify those 8/9 as people to look out for or those I should trust.

My eyelids begin closing before I can finish these thoughts. However, the one thought remains.

 _The rebellion has truly begun now..._

* * *

 **Not a very interesting chapter was it? Well... I still added in the 2nd training day just for Byke and Altars sake. Whatever. Just any other training chapter outside of the fact that we were introduced to the truth behind the 5 and 9 tributes. If you've read the 99th Hunger Games then you'll know that the main characters were involved with something similar.**

 **Whatever. Hope you enjoyed it either way.**

 **Also, I changed the name. Against all Odds is just a placeholder. Also, this fits for the arena.**


	6. Odds and Evens (Scores)

Alma sits next to me as the District 10 male (First one) comes back from his private training. He looks a little shaken for some reason. He gives a nod to his final District partner who jumps up and begins to head inside the training room. I look to my fellow tributes.

Soya is silent. Motionless. It seems she's close to sleep. Ceres yawns not too long after. When we came to wait, she had a giant grin on her face. However, now she looks a little less than dead. Alma has a silent glare on his face. We've been waiting for hours now. I'm very, VERY tired now. Honestly, the whole training score thing sounds like an inconvenience to me.

I want to go in their and show them my abilities I've spent so much time trying to hide. However, I know that Alma doesn't want that. We both know that sponsor gifts are good and me being a 12 year old and getting something good... would be VERY good for me. However, the games are focused on the idea that your supplies are cut off with the loss your partner.

If Byke dies in the opening moments than I will have made myself a threat without having any benefit from it. Both me and Alma know this... but what can I do? Sit there and do nothing? Of course not. The gamemakers are going through 48 tributes for this. No doubt, they'll bored to complete and utter death. If I don't do anything, they'll just tell me to leave without me even doing anything.

I'm grinding my teeth as the clock ticks. The District 10 boy finally leaves and they call up Ceres. Ceres gets to her feet and stretches. She puts on a very blazing and confident grin before rushing inside. Soya slowly begins to open her eyes.

"What do you think she'll get?" Soya asks quietly. Alma and I turn to her. It's been a while since we've heard her say anything. She's spent her time looking around like an emotionless doll. She gazes up at us. "Maybe a 7 or 8." I respond. Alma chuckles.

"10 possibly." He admits. I admit, it'd seem a little extreme and all but I wouldn't be surprised. However, we go back to being silent once more. The sound of air whistling through the air is the only thing that keeps me company in the next few hours. By this point, I'm wondering what I'll make. I wonder what Ceres make. I wonder what Soya will make.

 _I wonder what my older brother will make..._

I sigh. I hope he does well. Really, my score doesn't matter much to me. In the long run, I'll get somewhere between 3 and 5. 5 is only the highest if I manage to use my knife skills to my full advantage.

I almost fall asleep before I'm suddenly woken up by Soya's voice. "What do you think we'll get?" She asks. Alma shrugs before looking at me. "4." I admit. Alma just rubs my hair...

"Hopefully a 7." Alma says to Soya. She gives a nod... not even bothering to guess what score she'll get. I still feel terrible for her. She seems a lot more innocent than I am honestly.

As our silence fills the air once more, I'm left in a daze. Many of the other tributes should already see my brother as a threat. The careers most definitely. I look over to the 4 tributes from 12. They also seem to stay silent as we all sit around, waiting to be scored.

As I lay my head back a little more, Ceres leaves the training room with a satisfied expression. Soya looks up and I can see some fear in her pupils. I can also tell that her heart is pounding. She's obviously very nervous right now. Ceres gives her a somewhat slasher grin before turning to us.

"Let's see if you can beat my score." She brags as she begins walking to the elevator. At first, it seemed like she said that to us. However, the glare that my brother is giving off in her direction must say something about their rivalry...

Next, they call up Soya who jumps up and begins walking in. The door closes behind her and now, me and my brother are left alone.

"Hey. Alt." He whispers down to me. I look at him. His face gives off a serious vibe. "What're you doing to do in there?" He asks me. I give a sigh. "Nothing I guess. If you don't want me to look like a threat until we get to the arena." I admit.

"Uh... Well if that's your plan. I thought maybe you were going to try and do knives like... like you used to." He admits. For a second, I'm stunned. "Are you suggesting I actually try today?" I ask.

He gives a nod. "Yeah. I know what I said yesterday. The other tributes won't know how you got it but we will, won't we? If you get something akin to... 7 (Fare chance though) then you will be seen as a threat... but even so, you won't be their biggest concern." He admits.

I go silent for a few seconds. "Alright then." I nod in response. He gives a silent smile. Throughout our time here in the Capitol, I've noticed how he changes a lot. First, he would try and keep his smile on. When we reached here though... it seemed like reality had hit him. He was silent, quiet about our sad scenario. The fact that only one of us could escape.

The fact that even if he 100% protects me and succeeds in getting us both past both arenas he'll most definitely going to have no choice but to kill me. Other wise, he'd kill himself. I know Alma well. After all, he's my older brother.

However, I know him well enough that he most likely cannot bear the idea of having to kill himself or his younger brother. My thoughts echo in my head. They feel as if they echo across the room. They whisper to me. They seem to whisper the same thing over and over.

 _What are you going to do Altar? What can you do?_

I shake my head. I'm tired right now. My brother is silent as he stares at the door. I'm looking down at the ground right now. Bored to death, nothing more. Eventually, Soya leaves. Tears in her eyes. My pulse accelerates a little. Watching her leave in tears like that...

Alma looks down at me. "Do what you want." He tells me. They call my name and I stand up to leave. "Wait." Alma stops me though. I turn around, confused at what he wants.

"Just don't overdo it." He smiles. I grin and nod before walking through the door to the training room. As I enter the training room, I quickly pick up on how dim it is in the room. Also, their is a whole bunch of silence.

I look up. The gamemakers are all sitting around. Though I can tell that some of them are barely giving any type of glance down at me. Though I come close to telling them to pay close attention to what I'm about to do, I just sigh before slowly walking over to the knife area.

My heart is practically pounding against my chest right now. Will I be able to do a good job? Will I look like any regular little kid doing this... Well, I'm ready to find out. I arrive at the area with the knives. I put my hands on it before turning around. About half of them that seemed to be watching me when I walked in seem to have just turned away. Drinking, laughing about something random.

I take a deep breath. Picking up some knives and putting them on the floor next to me. As I pick one of them up to throw, I feel as if I'm having deja vu. The memories from years ago begin to pour back in.

All those days we'd spend hours at a time, aiming for the bullseye on the chalkboard. After a while... if we missed... Oh god...

My instincts come back and I angrily throw it at the board. It hits the target. Not directly in the middle but no too far off. I jump, quite surprised at that one. I look up at the gamemakers. Only one was even paying attention. He's nodding with a satisfied look on his face. I roll my eyes before picking up another one and throwing it. It comes even closer to the target.

I continue to pick up knives and aim them at the board. I move back a little, seeing if I can do this from an even further range. Not as good but I'm still putting power into all of these moves. Each throw is coming closer and closer. I don't know why, but I begin feeling a whole wave of satisfaction when I make it. I'm not doing this for the score, but better yet to see if I can actually compete against the older tributes.

After about 3 more minutes of me mindlessly throwing knives at a board, I realize that I've run out and go back to get more. After I collect a dozen (Carefully holding them because I'd rather not cut myself) I carry them back over and put them on the ground. As I begin to pick up one of them... my peripheral vision catches the eyes of several gamemakers. I take a peek. They all seem to be looking down on me with a very shocked expression for a second, I'm inclined to just to just run the mess out of the room but I try my hardest to ignore them and just continue on.

For another few minutes, this is all I do until I am interrupted. "Tribute uh... District 11 male." Someone interrupts me. For a split second, I jump. I almost think I did something wrong. However, I look up at them.

"You are dismissed. Thank you for your time." They nod. I bow before exciting the room. A grin growing on my face I exit the room. My brother stands up. "How'd it go?" He asks. I give him a smile. "Let's just say... that they underestimated me." I say. They call him up. Before he can go, I pat him on the back before rushing to the elevator. As the doors open and I step inside, my mind races. I'm curious as to what they'll give me. However, I shake my head. I shouldn't get ahead of myself...

* * *

 _ **Far later...**_

* * *

As me, Alma, Soya, Ceres, Willow, Huss, Pan and Syrio all sit around the main room of the District 11 floor. Impatiently awaiting the scores of each District. As we do, Alma is quietly sipping water as I constantly stop myself from falling asleep. Ceres is poking at her fingers while Soya is outright asleep.

Out of nowhere though, the Panem seal pops up on the television. Ceaser [Junior] is sitting in front of a desk with a smile on his face. He waves to the camera and nods. I take the pleasure of waking up Soya who only shakes her head to go back to sleep. _Probably cause she knows her score is low..._

Everyone sits up, interested in what will happen. "As you know, these are the scores for each District tribute. Of course, the system is 1 - 12. Keep that in mind." Ceres groans. "GET ON WITH IT!" She yells.

Everyone goes silent before the program continues.

District 1 have some pretty big scores under their belts. 9, 8, 8, 9. Of course, nothing to be amazed by. They're all careers who have been trained for years. District 2 is somewhat different. 7, 9, 4, 8. At least one number breaks their pattern.  
You'd expect District 3 to have some very low scores but they have some pretty impressive ones. 5, 7, 3, 5. Of course. The bigger ones must be more violent compared to the smaller ones in 3.

District 4... 8, 7, 5 and a 4. It's okay for 4. I move up a little in my seat when District 5 begins to rear its head. Of course, this is because of last night and the whole rebellion thing. _How big of a threat are they?_

Well... 3, 7, 7, 6. Works for 5. Pretty big numbers. I sit back. Ceres sighs.

District 6 appears. I'm also quite curious about the score Byke will get. The two male tributes... 2 and 2...

 _I'll take this as a sign..._

The first girl gets a 3. Byke... a 2...

Soya and Alma turn to me. I only sigh. _I hope I get the chance not to tell her to run to the cornucopia._ District 7 appears. 6, 3, 2, 2...

"Damn." Huss mutters. The older one got a 6. The older one looked pretty tough. The confidence in my score goes down a little. Hopefully I can still manage a 6 or 5...

"Hm. I guess they were just another bunch of weak ones." Ceres puts her arms above her head. Soya rolls her eyes. District 8 has a 3, 5, 4, 7. Alma shrugs. "Ah well. Hopefully he doesn't die first day." Alma sighs. Ceres laughs. "He'll probably die in the first seconds."

I also glance up a bit as 9 comes onto the screen. Even Soya and Alma are focusing a bit. Ceres just saves her breath as the scores appear.

5, 4, 3, 5. "Wow. Considering last year..." Willow begins. Last year, they were on top with a 7 and an 11. I'm quite surprised considering these kids plan on blowing out the arena. I sigh as I put my head back on the couch. I turn to my right. Alma is anxious to see his score already. Willow is quiet as we get to District 10. I look to my left. Soya is exhausted... Ceres begins to watch with excitement as her partners District appears.

4, 4, 3, 8.

Ceres breathes a sigh of relief. "Good. She wasn't all talk." Ceres laughs, talking about her partner. And finally... comes our District. I'm not surprised when Alma comes up first. A number **8** appears... Everyone jumps. Not the highest thing we've ever seen... but coming from my brother? Ceres gives a nod of approval, believing her score to be better. Soya has opened her eyes a little. Willow has a great big smile on her face. Huss gives a nod.

Next comes me... and a number **7**... everyone turns and looks at me. "The fuck?" Ceres looks at me strange. Huss and Willow are silent. I feel a little awkward at the situation but thinking about the score... a 7. That's close to career territory right there. I grin at the screen. I just proved myself, right here!

Next up is Soya. Surprise, surprise. **3**. Ceres scoffs. "I seriously wonder how you even got a 3." She jokes. Alma glares. "Back off!" He shouts at her. Soya waves Alma off.

"It's okay. It's okay." She sighs. Finally comes Ceres... with a **9**...

"Wow. Pretty big. I guess I was right." She laughs. Nobody even seems surprised, nor do they care. We just all sit around as 12 rear their head.

2, 4, 6, 4.

After that, Soya immediately leaves to her room. Alma stands up a goes to leave. I do the same, still shocked by my score. _I got a 7? A 12 year old... with a 7? Has anyone ever done that?_

As I jump into my bed and pull up the covers, I lay my head on the pillow and think. _We have interviews tomorrow... and I need to follow up this surprising score with that._ However, my anxious drops when I remember.

 _Two more days... and the games begin._ I shudder as my eyelids close.

* * *

 **When will I ever learn to make a chapter of 3K works... eh, I don't know. Hopefully when the games begin and I learn to drag out moments longer than they should be. Kind of like in DBZ... Heh, whatever... I'm already working on DBZ fanfics that get like, no views.**

 **Anyways. Scoring chapters. Not as inflated as last time but Altar with that random 7. Hope you guys don't mind it.**

 **Anybody gonna review? Eh. Up to you. See ya!**


	7. Masking Fears (Interviews)

I find myself gazing through the window as I'm forced to think about what type of interview angle I should go for. Willow is technically our acting mentor so she volunteered to help out Ceres even though Ceres didn't want any direct help. However, Huss quickly rose to the challenge of helping me and Soya out...

In all honesty, I'm pretty sure he was only helping us out to help out Soya specifically. It didn't take him too long to realize that the innocent 12 year old persona would not work on me. Many reasons in fact. I scored a 7. I'm quite pissed half of the time and besides that, I don't look cute at all.

Hell, I barely look my age. However, as Huss continues training Soya, I begin to devise a plan. _Maybe I should try and be more mysterious. Maybe I can be vague with my messages. I already have that 7. One of the highest scores a 12 year old has ever made honestly._

Thinking about my score again, I learned an interesting fact upon waking up today. Willow felt she had to tell me that Rue had a 7. _Most ridiculous coincidence I have ever seen..._

"Coming up with anything good over there, Altar?" Huss interrupts my thoughts. I jump for a second before turning and nodding. "Should I go for the mysterious angle?" I ask. Huss seems to think on it for a minute. "Maybe. I'll see if we can work with it after we get done with Soya." He nods back. I sigh before laying my head back against a window. Currently, Soya is going for the kind of cute persona that nobody wants.

I really don't know what good that's gonna do for her but at this point, she doesn't seem to care at all. I'm already thinking about what my brother might do. Of course, I can tell that Ceres is going to have some popularity with hers even though I clearly don't know what her angle is. I'm pretty sure it's the dangerous, sexy angle. Though I can't see Ceres as anything but dangerous...

Eh... I'm not sure about Alma though. I can't really see him as anything other than my brother so I'm curious as to what he will do. Speaking of which, the thought of what he may do has had me curious...

The day after the interviews is obviously the day the Hunger Games begin. Two arenas... 24 tributes in each one. I never thought about it until today.

Me and my brother will be separated...

 _After today, I may never see him again..._ I cringe at the thought. The thought visibly pierces into my deepest worries. Now I know why he didn't want me to show off too much of my skill too early and then changed his mind. He's worried about that. He knows he wont be able to protect me with all he's got because of the simple fact that he's gonna be unable to protect me.

He doesn't know what will make the careers want to kill me faster. My skill or my age. They'll want me dead either because I'm one threat out of their picture (Even if I'm just one 12 year old boy) or just because I'm another meal to them. Even if I survive, what says Alma will survive too? I'll be unable to see what my brother will do because we're in different areanas.

I hit the window, hurting my hand a little. "Hm? What's up Altar?" Huss asks. I turn around. "Sorry." I apologize. As they continue with their plans though, Pan and the other designer come rushing in. "Oh? Are you people still working on your angle because we wanted to get these outfits out of the way before." Pan admits.

"Don't worry about it. The outfits are pretty simple this year." Huss tells them. I breath a sigh of relief. We don't have to dress up in anything extreme. Not like it's the latest fashion in Hunger Games interviews. Maybe a decade ago but not anymore...

* * *

 ** _Much Later..._**

* * *

"You've got it. I think this mysterious angle will work for you." Huss applauds after we conclude. We've been working on my angle far longer than I thought we would. One issue was that Huss believed that I would just be mimicking more successful versions of the popular trope. However, I explained something very interesting.

The more hidden you are, the more people will be invested in your performance. For an example, the District 9 girl from the previous games used this angle. She was only 14, scored a 9, showed some experience in combat. It was confusing as all hell at the time but the audience totally bought into her.

I'm a 12 year old. I scored a 7. I was pretty much ignored before hand. I can possibly take the audience by storm. By this point, Pan and the other one have gotten my outfit on with no struggle. It's just a suit. The colors are purple, black and gold.

"It represents royalty." Pan laughs as she fits the outfit on me. "Huh. Royalty. Is this a sort of symbolism that you guys love to do?" I ask. She gives me a confused look before Huss walks in.

"It's a new thing that stylists love. Things like Queens and Kings have become quite popular in the Capitol over the past decade or so. Honestly, it's a bit overused nowadays though." He sighs. Soya has a blue-ish purple dress. She looks very pretty in it. Willow walks afterwards.

"You look no different than you usually looked Soya." Willow admits. Soya rolls her eyes. "I guess you're right..." She says.

Willow walks over to me. "You also look pretty good." Willow admits, though it seems she doesn't bother taking a second glance at my outfit. Pan seems to not want to stop smiling as she brags over my design. Even though the design is as simple as you can get in Hunger Games (To the point where I feel as if this is illegal), she continues bragging over it. Willow just rolls her eyes and leaves.

"Hm... is it alright if I cut a little bit of your hair to make this picture perfect?" Pan asks me. I give her a disgusted look. "The hell? No!" I come off a lot harsher than I meant. "Oh, sorry." She sighs. However, she still smiles.

 _It's like she used plastic surgery to make herself always happy._

As I begin to come close to apologizing, Alma and Ceres walk in. "Of course you guys are still working on them two." Alma sighs, walking in. Ceres gives an annoyed glare at everyone in the room. "They already look stupid enough to begin with. Let's just hurry this up already." She says to Huss.

"Jeez. Someones impatient, aren't they." He says, rolling his eyes. Huss walks over to me and Soya and takes some closer examination of my outfit. "I think it works pretty well. I'd say it's passable. We're done here." He admits.

I breathe a sigh of relief as I'm able to move again...

* * *

 ** _Much Later... (And by that, I mean the interviews)_**

* * *

The wait up to the moment I get on stage to do the interviews is unbearable. My legs are already tired and I'm bored of all the tributes. Well, the costume designs are nothing advanced. A few suits, a few wings. A few dresses. Maybe a few wigs. Nothing to really talk about.

However, the moment that Byke comes up is the moment I'm snapped out. She's the first District 6 tribute to come up and from the looks of it, she's quite frankly terrified. Upon reaching the stage, she sits down and gives a smile. The moment the interview starts though, I can tell that she's more than nervous at the moment. Her voice is shaky, from what I can tell she seems to be sweating.

I sigh. I surprisingly managed to keep myself sane through most of the first few interviews. The careers seemed very cocky this year. I'd be a little nervous about having to split up the pack but oh well. I also managed to keep myself awake throughout District 5's interviews. Of course, the rebellion plan is why. I was hoping that I'd hear some hints so maybe if they had a specific time period when trying to blow out the arena... maybe I'd know.

Well, no hints. Either way, I wouldn't have done anything about it. _Really, I can't._ In the end though, I'm pretty sure it's going to fail so what does it matter to me.

Byke is sent off and the other 6 tributes continue. As we wait for the other tributes to finish up, I give out a childish yawn. Alma smacks me across the head. I hear a little laugh in the audience. After a while, the District 6 tributes are finally done and 7 comes up.

The 7 tributes are kind of mixed. Considering the tributes this year, I guess I can see why. However, they first off call up the two girls from 7. They both jump down and stand next to Ceaser.

"So. The Capitol is curious. Both of you kids are sisters, right?" Ceaser asks. After a few seconds, one of the girls nods. "Twins." She says. The crowd goes silent. Me and my brother both turn to each other. _So theirs more to it than we thought._

"Another case of family in the games. Just like the 11 tributes." Ceaser waves to us. I wave back before rolling my eyes. After their interview comes many more minutes of tributes doing their interviews.

By the time we get to District 9, I can tell Soya is partially out of it. _Is it just me or did she spend most of the time we were here asleep._ I sigh. The first boy from District 9 is a young boy. I think he's around 16 years or so.

He sits down next to Ceaser. "Stovall. I've heard some interesting stuff about your skills in training." Ceaser begins. The boy seems to cringe. "Uh... Yeah. 9 and 5, we trained really hard. Though our scores say otherwise." He admits.

"Well we don't know. Maybe the gamemakers are just blind." He jokes. The crowd laughs. I kind of laugh as well. Either way, nothing too important happens as he leaves and the next boy from 9 comes up. However, this kind pretty much refuses to say anything. Not because he's shy but it seems to be out of spite. Though Ceaser still asks him some questions.

"So what's this 9 and 5 alliance all about huh?" Ceaser asks. The teen only bares his teeth, annoyed. Ceaser gives a sideways glance to the camera. After the boy leaves the stage, the District 10 comes up. Still, nothing noteworthy happening in these outer Districts.

By the time we get to Soya (Who Ceres slaps across the head in order to wake up), the crowd is pretty much dying for something to happen. When she gets up to the stage, Ceaser suddenly begins asking her about her families lifestyle and her point of view on the others in District 11.

She doesn't talk very kindly about her family. She isn't very quite on her views in fact. Well, outside of the fact that people seem to drop dead of exhaustion all the time in 11 but she manages to mask that. In a sense, for about 5 minutes she spends her time talking trash about the people that got her thrown here and she knows it's not going to matter in the long run.

Ceres has probably one of the biggest smiles in the history of... history. I can assume she's getting pumped for her interview... or maybe she's proud of Soya's breakdown at the current moment.

"So... In other words, you'd rather be poor than have all the luxuries you already have?" He asks. Soya gives a nod. "Hey, on the bright side I wouldn't have to be in the situation... would I?" She gives a wink to the camera before the timer ends. Ceaser already has an uncomfortable look on his face as she gets up and leaves. He doesn't even shake her hand or anything as she leaves, a far cry from the others.

Ceres immediately stands up and walks down the steps. She has a very smug grin the extends across her face as she makes her way down the stairs and towards Ceaser. His unusual look that resulted from the last interview changes back to a welcoming smile as he kisses Ceres on the hand. She cringes but manages to get through it. As they both sit down, he asks a question.

"So. I've heard some rumors about you and your partner, the girl from 10 right?" He begins. Right away, Ceres gives a sideways glance to the camera. "Hm. Oh... I wonder what those are about?" She says in a sarcastic tone.

The crowd laughs a bit though from the looks of it, Ceres doesn't care at all. "Well, we heard about your strategy." He explains. Ceres nods. "Oh, it's simple. Take the cornucopia from the careers. Sounds tough but it shouldn't be a big deal honestly." She breathes out.

The District 2 male shrugs loud enough for even me to here. "Oh. Some confidence here." Ceaser grins. "Well if I wasn't that good then I wouldn't be in the games, now would I?" She grins at the camera.

Alma scoffs. Ceres is surprisngly taking the crowd by storm. They can't get enough of her at all. She's clever, smug, and all around somebody that you know stands a chance. Though fortunately, her time ends and she leaves. Alma goes next. His face is neutral but filled with confidence. As he walks down the stairs, he looks to the camera and nods. Probably to me.

He sits next to Ceaser and doesn't even smile for the camera. Now I think I can see where he's going with this. He's trying to be quiet in order to get the crowd interested. "So. Alma Wilden. A lot of things have been said about you and your brother." He begins.

Alma doesn't even respond with much. Ceaser continues anyways. "Well. One rumor was spreading around like wildfire and we wanted to confirm it. Are you related to Rue, a tribute from a previous Hunger Games?" Ceaser asks.

My brother shrugs. "Uh... does that matter in the long run." He sits up. "If I tell you that I'm related to a dead 12 year old, will it change do anything for the games in the future?" He asks. Ceaser thinks for a moment. "We don't know actually. Though I guess it was good to get closure. Well, why don't we call your brother down." He waves up at me. I jump a little but I start to move down the stairs carefully.

By the time I make it down, Ceaser has a great big smile shining at me. From the looks of it, I can assume he thinks putting me and my brother together will make this interview a little easier.

"Well then, the crowd has been quite... surprised. You know, about your score from last night." He explains. I look out at the crowd. At first, I want to say something but instead, I keep my mouth shut. "You know. The 7. We're all shocked, how a kid like you could have achieved a score like that." He says. I swallow my saliva. I don't exactly want to explain how it happened in front of anyone at the moment... so I continue to stay quiet.

Ceaser turns to my brother for information. "You're brother is quiet is he?" He asks. My brother just shrugs. Ceaser turns back to me. "Well, if you don't mind. Do you have anything to say about your score?" He asks me.

I take a deep breath. "For any of those who expect me to last only 5 seconds in the game, go ahead. Go and support the stronger tributes. Just when I make it past the first arena, don't try and claim the games are rigged." I tell the crowd.

The whole place goes silent. I'm left in the dark for a few seconds. _Aw... I thought that would've been a good one._ My brothers gives a grin up at me. "So I see. You're pretty confident in your abilities. I hope we can see some of you in the arena." He admits. Ceaser then allows my brother to go back up the stands.

"Now Altar... what do you plan to do when you get to the arena." He asks me. I'm quiet for a few minutes, contemplating the idea of blurting out my ideas. However, I instead opt to give a blunt answer. "Live." I say.

I get a few laughs from the crowd. Ceaser smiles and rolls his eyes. "I can assume that you plan on keeping it secret huh." He says. I nod back. After a few more minutes of questions and answers, time ends and I'm allowed back to my spot. I quickly rush up the stairs.

"Tch. That was completely awful." Ceres says. I roll my eyes. Next up goes the District 12 tributes. However, after they go they eventually finish, we all head to an elevator.

Conveniently, me, Alma and the other District 11 tributes manage to get in the same elevator. We all stand around in silence. Well, that is until Ceres decides to open her mouth again. "That was pretty clever Soya. I think your interview was pretty good." She gives a nod of approval to the other female tribute. Soya only stares at the floor.

She turns to Alma and me. "I wish I could have said the same thing about those two though. Heh, yours were pathetic." She tells us. My brother Alma sighs. "I think I'm the only one who actually listened to Huss." He says.

"And look where that led you." Ceres admits. She looks back down to Soya. "She spoke her mind. I gave the crowd somebody to want to see in the arena. Alma just stood around... you... I guess I could say you were okay but not just barely above the girl from 6." She admits.

I sigh as the doors to the 11th floor. It isn't until we reach the floor that everything is fully refresh. _Tomorrow... Tomorrow is the day._ My thoughts float around. I probably won't see my brother after tomorrow... Maybe I should share his bed for no reason at all?

I find it quite uncomfortable though... So I don't bother.

Though after I change my outfit and get in bed... I still can't wipe away that feeling of dread. Not only for my fate tomorrow... but my brothers fate. Hours begin to pass like minutes. I'm worried, sweating. I need to calm down and go to bed but I can't... So I get out of bed.

I quietly move to my brothers room. He's already knocked out in his bed. Doesn't bother me though, I just jump on it and lay as far from him as possible.

 _Tomorrow..._

* * *

 ** _This chapter... absolute torture. I wanted to make this chapter long but I gave up after the first paragraph. I'll make it up with the next chapter (AKA the games)._**


	8. Countdown (Pre-Games)

I wake up in bed. Though I quickly remember that it isn't my own bed. I happen to be sharing it with my brother right now. Thankfully, he's taken the floor. However, I quickly jump out and poke at him. He wakes up and looks at me. "Did you really have to sleep so close?" He asks. I shrug before walking back to my room.

Though to my confusion, Willow is sleeping in it. I ignore her though and I begin to go and grab the outfit they set us before the games. _The games are today._ My throat dries up like a puddle in the sun. The thought is haunting. I'm nervous, worried. I don't have a plan. I don't know weather I should run from the cornucopia or run at it. How many careers will be in the games. Has my 7 attracted some eyes? Oh god, oh god, oh god.

My thoughts fly around my head. As I rush to the bathroom to change, I can feel my heart pounding against my chest. _I've never thought about it this hard. I thought I had some confidence going into the first arena... but Alma is going to be here to protect me... And what are the chances of me surviving the first arena._

I head into the bathroom and begin putting on my outfit. The feeling is dreadful. I try and hold on to some hope... that maybe I'll get out alive. I put on the shirt and then the pants. I look in the mirror. My eyes are a little red and my hair is starting to look a little... nappy. I could've sworn my hair was short when we came here... Ugh.

I walk back out. Soya is already sitting at the table, waiting for breakfast. Ceres walks out of her room with her clothes for the games. Willow walks out of my room. She looks at us for a few seconds before sitting down next to Soya. Eventually, as the Avox's begin putting down all the food, my brother comes in. He sits down next to me. He looks half sleep.

"Did you get any sleep?" I ask. "Some." He admits. I realize that me and my brother haven't had a conversation for a while. I can assume he's been nervous about me...

"I got enough, but I still feel exhausted." I yawn. The morning sun has already risen by the time we begin munching into our food. The pancakes, eggs, sausages. I haven't had a meal like this since the day we got on the train. It feels almost serene, like heaven. However, that just makes me shake. What's to come in only a few hours will shake me out of this feeling.

I look back up. Willow is looking down at her plate. As I look over at the others, I notice that she raises her head again and watches me before turning her head to Soya. Soya is still half sleep it seems. I sigh. Today...

"Today, I got information on the arenas your both going into. I think Soya and Alma go into the first arena while Ceres and Altar go into the second one." She explains. I sigh. I don't know why, but I was kind of hoping that Soya would be in the arena with me. You know, somebody I could relate to.

However, Ceres is going to be in my arena. Hopefully, she won't be going after me in the bloodbath. If I'm lucky, maybe she'll distract the careers. My thoughts turn to my actual partner in the games. Byke. She was a pain during training but she's going to be even more of one when we're in the arena. I sigh... She better not die early on in the games if I want to get out...

* * *

As we begin leaving the tribute center, I realize that this is the moment where me and my older brother split paths. Possibly forever. I look up to my brother. He looks down at me. For a second, it seems like he's trying to reach deep within himself and pull out a smile. Just like he always used to do.

However, he can't and instead closes his eyes as if he's close to crying. "A-Alma." I say. He opens his eyes. "Altar... you're so innocent..." He says, rubbing my hair. I really can't respond to that, but I sigh. "Run away from the bloodbath." He tells me.

I knew he was going to say that from the beginning, but I can't really think of any other options. I either go in there and die... or die a slow and painful death. Now that I really lost all confidence in myself now...

However, as we begin to head to the aircraft's, I know this is the part where I say goodbye to my brother. However, I can't bring myself to say anything. Before he and Soya can get on the hovercraft though, I run up and hug him.  
It's quite honestly the most awkward thing I've ever done, but I know this may be the last time I ever see him. "Goodbye... Alma." I say to him. He hugs me back. "Be safe. Don't be afraid to do what you must. Just remember... I'll always be-," He is interrupted when a peacekeeper drags him off of me.

"Alma!" I shout as I'm pulled towards the aircraft. My heart is pounding as I'm thrown on board. I stop myself from crying. I know I need to look strong. However, being torn from my brother...

Before I can continue though, a lady walks up to me. She quickly grabs a needle and stabs my arm with it. I'm not too fazed getting it. It's just a tracker. My mind is more focused on the other tributes in the aircraft.

Tributes from District 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. Ceres is next to me with a incredibly bored look on her face. I'm shaking a little in my seat. The District 7 Female looks over to her district partner who is taking deep breaths. The District 1 female is picking at her fingernails while the District 3 male has his eyes closed. One of the bigger District 9 tributes who has a annoyed look on his face. Everything seems to be black and white for me. My mind can't understand what is going on. _Or what is about to happen._

The lights in the aircraft go out and I take a deep breath. _I guess this means it's time..._

* * *

 _ **Later...**_

* * *

I'm escorted to the launch room by two peacekeepers. I'm not sure what to focus on. The fact that these peacekeepers are uncomfortably close to me and holding guns to me or that the games will begin once I enter that room. Well, technically not until I get into the pod which takes me to the arena but you get my point, I'm a scared bastard at the moment.

My heart is pumping a lot faster than it should before I'm finally thrown into the launch room. However, I'm still almost relieved for a moment, that is until I realize who's also in here with me.

"Hello." Pan waves at me from the other side of the room, still smiling like she has always been. Now I'm just annoyed. Of all people, it had to be her. She's also holding something in her hand. She quickly hands it to me where I discover that it's my jacket for the games.

It's a dark brown, like chocolate. I'm reminded of that winter day so many years ago. My 9th birthday to be exact. After I came home from school, my mother and brother had finished their shifts while my dads would continue into the night. While we sat around a small fire that my brother had made, my mother gave us something that she had found laying around her workplace.

I would later learn that it was a small chocolate bar. It was soft and creamy but tasted amazing. Out of the small pool of food we had been getting, I was thankful we had gotten anything at this point. Sadly, my father never got to try it.

He wouldn't come home in a while in fact...

I shake my head. While it does feel good being nostalgic for a few moments, I have to remind myself that I have to forget all of that for a moment. Especially the memories with my older brother and my mother.

I feel almost sick. The moment I was torn from my mother, I didn't feel the worry and anguish of the moment because I was with big brother. However, now that he has been torn from me, I don't feel brave anymore. _I feel like a 12 year old..._

I begin to feel a burning sensation in my eyes. The feeling of dread, worry and fear of death all come crashing down like a rock. I don't feel as invincible. Then, I begin crying. I'm almost like a waterfall. However, Pan quickly rushes over to me to try and cheer me up.

"Get away from me!" I shout at her, more harshly than I mean to. By this point, I'm afraid and scared.

 **"10 minutes until launch."** Someone goes over the intercom.

I sigh. I slowly begin to wipe away my tears as the 10 minutes slowly pass. I can't help but really reflect on everything that has led up to this moment in time... The reapings in which both me and my older brother were called. The moment my mother was taken from us without even a goodbye. The train rides where I learned of Soya and Ceres. The training, where I met Byke.

The moment I learned of the rebellion. Finally, all of those moments where me, Alma, Willow and the other tributes would sit around and just casually talk. I feel like a fool for being so casual with things. Acting like everything was going to be okay. Acting like I knew I was going to live.

" **2 minutes until launch.** " After drying my eyes, I look back to Pan. She sits away and for the first time, I notice that she isn't smiling. I go over to her and apologize for my earlier outburst. She says it's fine and her smile grows back. I smile back before getting putting on my jacket and slowly walking towards the pod.

I expect the pod to enclose when launch happens but surprisngly, it closes right as I jump in. For the next two minutes, I'm awkwardly sitting in the humid pod until it begins to rise.

When it does though, Pan waves a goodbye. However, her face is more concerning. As if she cares at all about what is about to happen. For a few seconds following this, everything is a pitch black. For a while, I wonder if this is how the arena is going to be until I notice a light. I look directly up. I see blue and a possibly a few clouds.

"So this must not be anything insane then..." I say to myself as the pod continues rising. My breath goes quiet. I feel almost at ease for a moment knowing that this arena is a specific death trap, but I know I just need to be careful with how I approach it.

Finally, the pod reaches the arena. "Well..." I whisper to myself.

I look around. "Let the 100th Annual Hunger Games begin." I say to myself.

* * *

 **Anyways, this is easily the shortest chapter in the story so far because of my lack of motivation but I think I'll pick that up when I get to the bloodbath next chapter. Please review. Thank you and goodnight (Well actually this is going up in the middle of the afternoon but... Eh)**


	9. Bloodbath (Day 1)

As I look around, I take in the look of the arena. It's a meadow covered with flowers as far as the eyes can see. Though their is a forest pretty far off in the distance. I take a deep breath and try to see who's next to me. I count the tributes in the half circle. I'm the 16/24 in it. At first, I just feel disappointed. However, then I realize that this is a bigger issue than it should be.

I'm pretty much dead center in the middle which means that if I run in there, I'm dead. I grit my teeth in annoyance. I had some hope that maybe I could get in and get out relatively quickly. All I needed was a bag. Though throwing knives would also be pretty good, I need to focus on surviving. As far as the tributes go, I'm sandwiched between the girl from 3 to my left and the boy from 7 to my right.

I'm at least glad that the careers aren't in my area. That'd be VERY disastrous and would add to the problem of running into the bloodbath and escaping. I look around a bit more. Byke is actually close to the District 1 female. I'm hoping she turns around. The District 3 female is pretty small, not big of a deal. The boy from 7 is a bit better looking so he might be a big deal if I go in.

Matter of fact, a lot of the tributes in this arena... seem pretty small from the looks.

Otherwise, all the careers are on the outside. At first, I feel a little better knowing that I'm nowhere near them... but then I realize something. If all the careers are on the outside... and all of the other tributes are on the inside...

I look the the cornucopia. 30 seconds...

A few of the best looking weapons seem to be on the left and right areas. _They didn't have to make this too obvious._ The careers are stationed on each side for a reason. Strategical advantage.

They're supposed to grab their items before quickly wiping some of the smaller tributes down. Because most of the tributes here are small children then this would mean... oh shit. They're going to mow us down.

 _ **10 seconds remain on the clock...**_

 _ **9...**_

 _I see a small bag. It's to the left so I have to take a sharp turn and get to my best efforts, get out._

 ** _8..._**

 _I look at Byke again. From here, I can tell she's looking over at me. She looks a bit nervous but she looks behind herself. I can assume that she's running._

 _Hopefully._

 ** _7..._**

 _My heart pounds against my chest._

 _ **6...**_

 _My thoughts turn to my brother. He's not in this arena, but I wonder how he'll do..._

 _ **5...**_

 _I take a deep breath and make realize what I must do._

 _ **4...**_

 _I will have to go into the bloodbath and grab the bag as quickly as my small body can._

 _ **3...**_

 _Such a beautiful arena..._

 ** _2..._**

 _How quickly will it fall apart..._

 _ **1...**_

 _Ladies and gentlemen, let the 100th Annual Hunger Games begin._

The first thing we hear is the shrieking piercing sound of the gong. All at once, we all leap off our pods and dash straight towards the cornucopia. I rush in, not bother to even look back. As I run towards the bag , it slowly seems to be getting further and further away from my location even though I'm clearly dashing directly at it. My heart is pounding heavily.

By the time I reach the bag, most of the other tributes have reached the cornucopia and are already picking up their weapons. The District 4 female (Taller one) pulls out a spear. Another District 4 tribute actually keeps his distance as she points her spear at him. One of the District 2 tributes is grabbing a curved sword that laying around while the District 7 male runs past me and into the cornucopia.

By the time I grab the bag, chaos has begun to enfold around me. The District 2 female targets the District 9 male who attempts to run from her at the best of her abilities. The District 2 male has targeted the District 3 female. The District 6 male (Who runs directly passed me) gets attacked by the girl from 10.

I watch in horror as the District 3 female is mowed down by the larger career tribute. A fight between the males from 5 and 4 begins. Though I was praying to goodness that my bag was a safe distance from the cornucopia, I was wrong.

 _Really wrong..._

I'm slipping the bag on my right arm quietly as chaos enfolds. However, before I can begin running though-,

 **"SLISH!"** I cry out in pain the moment I feel blood spilling from my arm. Now my right arm feels almost out of commission. I turn around me, my eyes widening out of fear. A knife thrown at me by a career tribute. District 1 I think. I have literally no chance of escaping this situation at the moment. _It's over! It's ov-, Actually... I should at least try._

With my left arm, I pick up my bag and attempt to dash away. "Don't even bother!" The District 1 tribute shouts before throwing another knife at me. I quickly turn around. With barely a fraction of a second, I duck.

"Woooo-," The knife goes right past me to my luck. However, that doesn't stop her next knife. "Aaaah!" She shouts before she can throw is at me though. I don't even bother looking back as I run away, past the pods and all the chaos behind me. However, I do turn around and notice another tribute targeting me.

 _Just leave me the hell alone._

The District 10 girl with an axe. Of course, she's running at me with it since I'm the only one who's managing to get out as of now. I don't stop running though. I'm praying in my head that this is my top speed and that she won't be able to get me. However, it's all in vain. I can hear her footsteps directly behind me. By this point, I'm making it back to the pods and I quickly jump onto it. After this though, I quickly jump off and continue running.

I actually turn around once more, she's slowly starting to move slower making me hope that she's going to stop at some point. Past the pods seems to be an endless field of flowers. One step-,

I quickly fall in and discover that the flowers are knee deep. At least for me. "Oh no, oh no." I whisper to myself before turning around. _I'm easy picking back here! I gotta move quicker!_ My thoughts are frantic, moving around with little time to slow down and register any feeling outside of fear. I feel so worried, anxious that somebody is ready to take my life at any moment that it feels like I'm counting the ways it can happen.

I'm almost peacefully moving through the flowers though. I'm walking through them as if I was walking through a pond. Though the flower seem innocent and colorful, I know they're just another part of the danger zone that is the bloodbath. It's meant to slow anyone who makes it out of the bloodbath in order to make them easy pickings. I swallow my saliva.

I feel as if hours have passed but in actuality, the sun is in the same place that it was in when I began. I turn around. The scenery is bright. The sky is bright blue but everything feels orange and yellow. As if it was a hot afternoon. The scenery reminds me of 11...

Not too far off in the distance, some of the remaining tributes that managed to escape the cornucopia now have to survive the flower patch that seems to never end. Thankfully, by this point I've gotten myself a pretty big lead. I stop running and begin walking in order to catch my breath a little. I feel some confidence coming back. However, I have no weapons once so ever...

I sigh. However, I feel a smile coming up. I survived. I survived the cornucopia bloodbath...

I try and raise my right arm real quick. "AAH!" I grit my teeth as I realize how badly I got cut. I wish I had time to grab the knife but oh well. The next best thing is to... I guess hide somewhere. I haven't had too much practice with climbing trees but I'm pretty sure I can hide up in the trees without being spotted. The forest seems pretty far away still though...

I almost want to check my bag already. However, I remember that the tributes are still all racing out and possibly right behind me. I turn around. Since we're still out in the open, I can tell who's behind me. Their are some tributes running around in the flower fields but nobody seems to be heading in my direction. I take a deep breath. Another thought pops up at this moment.

What happened to Byke? Now, I'm worried. Though I'm quite surprised that I'm worried for her because she seriously didn't seem like she'd be doing anything useful in the games, especially not in the opening. However, I think the sign she gave me is enough to assure me that she ran away. It was actually quite the decision honestly. Even if we made it past the careers in the bloodbath. Even if we made it in and out, we'd still have the flower patch to go through. Even if you didn't get mowed down in the cornucopia, people were going to get mowed down somewhere around there.

This makes me question, how the hell did I survive? Luck. Obviously.

Eventually though, I make it to the forest that surrounds the meadow. I breathe a sigh of relief. I'm glad I've made it this far but... but I don't know how longer this can go on. Anyways, the sun is out but the air feels moist and warm, I don't know why, but it feels almost relaxing outside. However, I'm reminded of all the people I watched die in the bloodbath. Of course, I've seen the games before but watching them take place in person is over a thousand times worse.

Eventually, I make it to the forest that stands outside of the meadow. Though I'm already wondering something else. I haven't had too much practice with climbing trees but I can probably do that. Even then, I look behind myself before entering the forest.

I sigh. "Okay... let's see what I've got." I carefully take my bag off my shoulder as I go to see what's inside. I unzip my bag and begin pulling out some of the things I have. The first thing I have is a water container. Thank goodness I have one of those. Though I lack the knowledge of where I can find any water...

The next thing I pull out is a small candy bar. Well, I think it is. I want to open the wrapper but I decide it'd be best to save the food for if I begin starving. I sit down and lay my head on a tree out of boredom. I'm alive... and that's all that matters at the moment. I breath in. _All I've got to do is survive... that's all..._

However, my thoughts turn to two things at the moment. Byke? Is she okay? What about Alma? Is he going to be fine as well? Matter of fact, how long will I be able to survive? I'm grinding my teeth like a mad man now. However, I shake my head and try not to worry too much. However, I already feel paranoid. Though because this is the first day, things shouldn't be too hectic at all.

I put my backpack back on and begin to traverse through the forest.

From the looks of it, the forest is quite hilly. If I had the upperground than I'd be less paranoid. However, the area is quiet (Sans the light chirping of the birds and other insects). The light is bleeding through the trees as if it was a beautiful painting. It all feels relaxing... too relaxing. I swallow my saliva and begin climbing a hill. After making my way up the hill, I stand high above the forest. Well, not really since there are much bigger hills. However, I feel a little better up here knowing that I was being a little paranoid.

I notice a tree not very far off and decide to climb it to get a better view of my surroundings. I begin to get my hands into position before slowly making my way up the trees. When it comes to climbing, I'm a little better than I thought I was. However, even I have my limitations. I stop on a branch and look.

I can see the cornucopia from here. Unfortunately, I can't see if any tributes are over there but I can assume that the careers have taken over the cornucopia. Looking at the arena from up here, the place looks very amazing. Also, I notice an area I hadn't seen before. What's possibly a beach far off in the distance. I'm almost inclined to head over there but I decide it'd be best to stay in the forest. I can also see the whole meadow from up here.

However, what I'm really looking for is a pond/river/lake to get river from. However... I don't see one. I swallow my saliva again. _You've got to be kidding me..._

Either I'm not looking hard enough or there isn't a clear water source in this arena. I grit my teeth in annoyance. I shouldn't wear myself out too quickly in this arena. At least until there is a clear way to find water.

Almost an hour passes as I sit on the tree branch. I'm glad this can actually support my weight but as the sun begins to come close to setting, I already feel like passing out asleep. However, I keep myself awake for as long as I can manage. By this point though, I'm bored. Even though I was using it as a pillow for the most part, I take my backpack and start shuffling through it some more.

First thing I find is a flashlight. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it once night falls but flashlights are scary when it comes to Hunger Games. I mean, do you want to bring all attention to the giant light in the trees? Dumbass.

The next thing I pull out is a bag of crackers. "Thank god. I'll have something to hold me over for the most part." I whisper to myself. However, sadly there isn't much else in the bag sadly which disappoints me.

 **"BOOM!"** However, I'm interrupted by sudden canon shots. One by one, the canons go off signaling another death in the arena. I count them as each canon goes off. After a few seconds, I count up to

 _ **The District 1 Male**_

I'm almost completely shocked. A career was taken out? No less, the one that spent his free time in training antagonizing the younger tributes. I mean, I guess he had it coming but damn... I'm curious. Who could've done it.

 ** _District 2 Female_**

Another career? Huh? What's the pattern here? And how...

 ** _District 3 Male_**

The boy from 3. I don't know anything about him other than that he was 12 so...

 _ **District 3 female**_

Thinking about it now. I'm quite lucky that she was taken out and not me. We were both kind of centered in the middle of the action but I took that random detour praying that it'd give me an excuse to not be there. However, thinking about it now she's probably be alive if I hadn't done that.

 ** _District 4 Male_**

Now I'm a little confused. That's three careers taken out? How did this happen? He looked like he would have fared pretty well... oh well, I guess.

 ** _District 5 female  
_**

I remember this face a little bit. She was running in the flower meadow outside of the pods far behind me. She was probably mowed down by the careers. Also, is it just me or is this a completely unbiased gender pattern... Whatever. I don't care because I'm more concerned about Byke. She better be alive...

 ** _District 7 Male_**

I breathe a sigh of relief realizing that Byke must have run off from the bloodbath. Looking back to District 7 though, he was next to me. Unsurprisingly, he died.

 ** _District 7 Female_**

Just like 3, 7 has been wiped out. At least in this arena. Then my mind begins to race a little. So this must mean that they're only showing the deaths of one arena and not to another...

 ** _District 9 Female_**

By this point, I'm reminded of that rebellion from the 2nd training. How 5 and 9 were an alliance that stuck together through training. However, the fact that two of their people are down makes me wonder how they can continue with that ridiculous plan.

 _Blowing out the arena? Were they really serious? Even me, a 12 year old, doesn't think well of that._

 _ **District 10 Male**_

I think he was also one of the younger ones. Though I can't be sure because I rarely saw him in training.

 _ **District 12 Female**_

And that was about it. It was good news that Byke was okay but I don't know about Soya or Alma. I know Ceres is alive though... and I'm worried about that.

The sun has gone completely down now and as the first day seems to be wrapping up... nothing seems to insane... yet at least.

 _I was lucky today, but luck runs out... it will..._

* * *

 **End of the 1st Day...**

* * *

 ** _The games have begun... and Altar is going to have a tough time. I came up with the arena idea last second. Originally I was going to combine a bunch of previous arenas but I found the boring and decided with the multiple (Now Duo) arena idea. Then, I decided it would be cool to make it like a killer Candy Land (After watching one of the recent One Piece episodes... weird series) but went against that because... obvious reasons._**

 ** _Later on though, I try'd to avert creating a full on 50th Hunger Games. The games will have something to do with past games but you'll understand it more over time..._**

 ** _Though the flower meadow is literally the only connection to 50th Hunger Games so don't get the wrong idea. This chapter should have been longer but I'm currently writing this out of town in a hotel room and I want to go to bed..._**

 ** _Wait... Oh my goodness! A REVIEW!_**

 _Icytopia - (Chapter 3), I was probably half sleep writing this story. Like I am right now... That or I was on some laughing gas... which I am right no-, Okay I should stop letting people know my day to day activities..._

 **If you enjoy this series (I doubt it because I'm physic ;D ) than review or something. Thanks for reading this chapter.**


	10. Trust Fall (Day 2)

I'm awoken by the wind blowing the tree I'm sitting in. Or well, I thought it was the wind. I had begun to wake up when I noticed Byke below the tree, sitting under it.

 _Huh? When did she... Never mind._ I begin climbing down from my tree as I go to see how she found me. I land directly next to her, waking her up from her sleep relatively quickly. She immediately jumps up before I calm her down.

"You know, you could have just raised a white flag and shouted come at me! Seriously, I could see you from nearly a mile away." She tells me. I look back up to the tree. I didn't realize I was that visible from up there.

"Glad to know your okay though." She tells me though. I nod back to her.

I look around the area we're in. Since we're back as a team now, I'm not really sure what we should do next. I mean, I'm keen on surviving as long as possible by staying away from the other tributes and obviously so is she but I'd rather do so by hiding up where they can't catch me. Technically, she is my life line. I'm lucky enough to have her in my arena where I know she's alive or not unlike some other unlucky tributes.

I sigh. Where to go then? "So... what should we do now?" I ask her.

She shrugs. "Anywhere honestly. Anywhere but here." She tells me.

I look around. "I... I thought the forest would be a good hiding spot from the careers and all... It seems like everything else in this arena is just a giant death trap." I admit, looking at my surroundings.

From what I saw yesterday, I couldn't really make out what this arena was trying to be. The cornucopia reminded me a lot of a innocent death trap. Then their was a forest that reminded me of Aunt Rues games. But then there's a beach... which is confusing me. I turn back to Byke. "How about...this way?" She points in some random direct.

I'm already confused. I never saw anything of importance that way so... why that way? By the time I begin to ask about it, she's already running off that way. I sigh and follow her lead. The forest is still quite quiet and I begin to feel at ease. Everything feels... serene. I begin to feel a little anxious but I remind myself to relax a bit. Byke energetically runs ahead of me as I follow closely behind. "So what do you think is this way?" I ask her.

She turns her head. "Safety. Hopefully." She tells me.

I roll my eyes. "You can't just assume every turn we take is going to be safe you know? This is the Hunger Games. Remember?" I remind her. I hear her give a sigh before she turns around a stops.

"Can you just trust me?" She argues. I give her a funny look. She expects me to trust her? I find that both ironic and just stupid. "Maybe." I roll my eyes. She continues walking. The forest is still as quiet as ever. I decide to bother Byke again.

"Seriously though, what the hell is in this direction?" I ask her. She takes a heavy breath before turning around. "Can you just let me go in this direction. Please. We're heading somewhere, that's all I know." She argues.

I facepalm. "Somewhere? Is that it?" I ask her.

"Somewhere important I guess." She tells me.

I sigh. I'm starting to regret joining her on this adventure. Honestly, I could just abandon her. If she gets herself killed, then I get no sponsors. So what? Well yeah they are very vital but honestly if she gets us both killed then it won't change much at all. "Byke, do you honestly have any clue where you're taking us?" I ask.

She sighs. "No. End of discussion. Just trust me on this on though." She orders me.

I groan in annoyance. The sun isn't even at a point where I can say it's noon and by then, I realize that's it's going to be a pretty long day...

* * *

 ** _Time Passes_**

* * *

Me and Byke find ourselves at the flower patch once more. Well, around it. "Now we're back to were we came from!" I yell at Byke.

She groans before turning to me. "Can you stop complaining! We're not supposed to be heading anywhere specific so why are you complaining!" She yells back at my face.

I step back a little, not expecting such an outburst. She grits her teeth before turning around. Though I remember that she is right. I'm only here to play a small game of keep away from the careers. Speaking of which, I'm only just reminded that they're probably still around somewhere near us. Like every year, they take over the cornucopia.

I can kind of see the cornucopia in the distance. It's pretty far off but I can see the silver cornucopia and the careers camp. Meanwhile, Byke is doing her own thing. "Wonder if the careers can see us all the way from there..." She asks me. I can't see the careers from here so it's best to assume that they're either too far out or they're not there at all.

However, the thought that they may be hunting down smaller tributes like us. I look behind myself. Byke notices this.

"Hm. You're scared too aren't you?" She gives a smug smile.

I scowl. "No." I turn around again.

She huffs. "Heh. You act like being afraid is a crime." She laughs.

I groan again as we continue past the flower patch.

Eventually, we find ourselves past the flower patch and in the other side of the forest. "So we went past the flower patch... only for you to take us to the forest... again." I explain how stupid this is.

She casually rolls her eyes as she walks past me. "No actually, I find this area to be more secure." She rings. By this point, it's only been 2 hours and I'm already annoyed at this girl. _She's from District 6 after all..._

District 6 is the district that makes the transportation. Because of this, they have no real skills. Usually 11 has some good or bad tributes from year to year but 6 hasn't had a victor in decades. It's very saddening honestly. _Who knows though? Maybe this girl will be the death of me._ I roll my eyes at the thought though. Though I take another glance at Byke. _I should be careful..._

As we keep walking though, I notice how muddy things start getting. In fact, it's quite hot over in this area of the arena. The area is more wet and swampy that the other side of the forest. Byke is already quite annoyed by this.

"Damn it. This is just great." She groans as she steps in the mud.

I chuckle. "What? Grossed out?" I joke.

She glares at me. "No. It's slowing us down!" She suddenly yells in my face.

I hold up my hands in confusion. "Hey, I was just joking around. No reason to get mad about it." I tell her, looking behind myself.

I almost felt like that scream echo'd around the entire arena. Hopefully nobody heard that sudden outburst.

"Sorry about that. I get annoyed easily when people..." Her voice quiets.

Her breath becomes quiet. I can hear her heart. The birds go silent. The whole arena is silent. She begins to speak up in a whisper. Then, I hear a sound. Possibly the sound of footsteps. I feel my heart pounding hard against my chest. _Oh no oh no oh no oh no!_

Byke takes a deep breath before continuing. I look around. I quietly begin walking through the mud. Each step I take makes a sound almost akin to an echo. My mind is racing. _Is a tribute behind us? Is it a Mutt? What is it?_

For a while after this though, we hear nothing. I'm almost able to believe that it was just our imagination. However, I hear another sound. I quietly tell Byke to quiet down before I look around a little bit more.

"Pst. It's just me." A voice whispers.

In the blink of an eye, I pull off my backpack and throw it in that direction. The bag slams into another tribute, knocking him down into the mud. I quickly rush over and grab my bag before attacking the person. However, I feel a force pulling me off. I look up and realize that Byke is pulling me off of him. "Byke!" I shout at her.

She rushes to the aid of the tribute I just attacked. "Sorry, if you couldn't tell. He wasn't trying to attack us." She argues.

As I get up, she helps the boy up. "Who the hell even is that and why are you helping him?" I question her. She looks back up to me. "Huh? Oh, I think I might've forgotten to tell you. He's my District partner and we were planning an alliance from the beginning." She explains. I give her a confused look. _She didn't tell me this before? This could've been some VERY helpful information._

She helps the boy up who begins to open his eyes again. "Who's this again?" He asks, ignoring the fact that I just attacked him out of nowhere.

Byke laughs. "District 11. I'm sticking with him just to make sure we get sponsors." She laughs.

I roll my eyes. "More like I'm sticking with you so you don't die. If you die than I don't get sponsors." I explain.

"We get along _real_ well..." She sarcastically jokes.

After she cleans him up, she explains our situation. Though to be honest their really isn't much of a situation... We're just moving along and away from any danger. The boys name is Troy from what I know and... well Byke just wants him on our side.

"I wish your District partner would have joined with us or something." He says as he walks along with us. I give him a confused look. "Why?" I ask.

He shrugs. "It'd feel safer." He explains.

I come close to laughing at the piece of dialogue. "Ceres is not a safe person to be with honestly. Well, unless we're talking about Soya [The smaller one] but even she claims that she wouldn't have contributed much in the long run." I admit.

Byke is walking up ahead of us before she turns and begins to ask me something. "Do you think we'll run into your district partner along the way?" She asks.

I really don't know why they're asking about Ceres because she'd literally be the death of us if we came across her. Besides that, she's independent. Well... unless she's with the 10 girl.

"Hopefully not. She's pretty much a one man career group." I sigh.

"You know, I'm thirsty." Troy says out of the blue.

I roll my eyes. "We've been searching for water for a while now. You'd think we'd find a lake or something like that by now." Byke interrupts.

"Maybe we can head to the beach?" Troy suggests. I stop and quickly give him a look that pretty much says that he's an idiot. Though Byke doesn't understand it at all. "What?" She asks.

"You can't drink salt water... Smart one." I tell them as I continue walking.  
However, it seems Troy is still confused over how I know that. Considering I am from 11, yeah, there isn't a beach or anything. However, I remember that there moments when we get water breaks but as a joke, they randomly give us salt water instead of fresh water.

I don't know how they think that's funny. Last year, somebody collapsed and died because of it...

I shake my head. "Bad memories." I sigh.

I take off my backpack and pull out a candy bar. Byke and Troy both stop at once and gaze at the food. "Can we try a bite?" They both say in unison. I stand back, a little surprised but I rip off two pieces and hand it out to both of them and before you know it, they're both munching away at the food. To be fair, I'm actually a little surprised that they seemed so hungry.

"You know, I'd think people in 6 would get more food than us in 11..." I admit. Byke gives us a nod. "Yeah. Probably just barely compared to 11." She says with food in her mouth. He laugh. "I doubt that honestly." I sigh.

District 11 is probably the poorest district Panem. Though I've heard people say that 12 is worse, I honestly doubt that. I'm about to take a bit out of chocolate bar when Troy and Byke both stop. I stop as well before putting the candy bar in my pocket quickly.

I don't hear anything but I don't want to be too confident that nothing is surrounding us. I start to feel sweat. I'm starting to get scared as I begin to hear another sound. Byke and Troy are both searching around rapidly behind and in front of themselves.

"You think it's the careers?" Troy whispers to us.

I shake. I was really hoping we could avoid it but by this point, it seems impossible. However, we begin to hear another sound. The sound of running. We all go silent once more. It footsteps don't seem to be going in this direction. Instead, they're going in another direction. Like, past us.

I turn around, confused. Then, we hear the sound of heavy breathing. Though it still sounds pretty faint so it's best to assume whatever this is, it isn't heading in our direction. My heart beat accelerates anyways. Then we hear another sound. _Multiple foot steps..._

I quickly turn to Byke and Troy before pointing at a bush. "Hide!" I gruffly whisper, trying to quickly evade the careers. We squash ourselves into a small shrub not too far away. My face smashes into the ground and I accidentally bite my cheek but I give no craps knowing what's at stake.

"Hey. You sure she went this way?" Someone asks.

I take a peak. I think it's the District 2 male asking it. The District 1 female has spear. The boy from 2 has a curved sword. Though I do see a quiver of bow and arrows on his back. However, it's only those two.

I'm reminded that the day before, the District 2 Male and 1 female were taken out. _Wasn't the District 4 female a volunteer though? Shouldn't she have been apart of the career alliance this year._

"Damn it. I thought we'd been through this." The girl from 1 growls in annoyance.

I hide back in the bush. Troy and Byke are practically going pale at this moment. I swallow my saliva before peaking once more. The careers are silently searching their surroundings. Considering the games I've seen in the past, the careers are usually loud and about in their games. Taunting their victims before death. Here, these two are quiet and seem almost completely worried. _Probably because there are only two of them._

"I'm going to kill that bitch if it's the last thing I do." The girl from 1 sighs.

The boy from 2 groans. "I knew something was off with the way she treated Finn... I should expected that she'd betray us." He sighs.

I think for a moment. _Are they referring to the boy from 4? Are you telling me that the girl from 4 killed her own District partner? Holy..._

"I wonder if she was with the brats from 5 and 9 as well?" The girl begins to speculate.

"Yeah actually. It'd make sense if they were in cahoots or something because nobody could have caught us off guard like that honestly." The boy admits.

 _Thank god the careers are just prone to giving away useful information when they think nobody is around._ However, this gives me a thought. _The tributes from 5 and 9 have that alliance thing... so to try their rebellion thing, they must have tried surprise attacking the careers._ If I'm correct, the girl from 4 they're talking about [AKA,the one in this arena] was the one who volunteered in the place of that younger girl.

It takes a few minutes, but after a long while the careers head further into the forest. Byke and Troy begin to get up but I force them back down. "We don't know if they're coming back." I tell them.

After a few minutes though, it's clear that they aren't coming back in this direction. Getting up, my shirt is dripping wet with swamp water. At least it's cooling me off...

"Jee. So the careers aren't really a pack, more of a duo than anything." Troy says.

I sigh. "You don't say..." I look around in the area a bit.

 _Though that is quite the surprising thought. The careers are v_ _ulnerable now. That's a relief to say the least._

"To be completely honest though, they're still a threat though. And then there's the other tributes." I remind them.

They both groan, remembering our dilemma. We begin to walk in the direction opposite of the careers when suddenly, we here a snapping sound.

We all stop dead in our tracks. _oh god, oh good, OH GOD NO!_ We have no weapons. No idea what we're up against. All young tributes. I hold out my backpack as a shield.

However, before any move can be made... A voice speaks up. "I'm not here to harm any of you." A female voice rings. The voice is coming from behind us, forcing us to quickly turn around.

Behind us is the girl from 4...

"Yeah, totally." I say, stepping back.

However, Byke and Troy Don't. "Huh? What do you mean?" Troy asks.

I'm tempted to pull him back and explain that she's trying to gain our trust before killing us. However, she could flatten me before I can even finish the sentence.

The girl from 4 stands still. "I want to... Join you 3..." She explains.

I take a step back. She has a spear in hand, though it ins't pointed at us. "Why?" I question her.

She looks around. "... Though the careers may be a threat to me, there's an even bigger one that we need to watch out for at the current moment." She tells us.

I'm already skeptical. "Join us then!" Byke waves her over to us. I quickly try to tell Byke off but by then, the girl from 4 is already next to us.

I shake my head. "Guys, this is the Hunger Games. We can't trust her." I explain to them.

Byke and Troy just ignore the fact that we're in an arena fighting for life and death at the current moment and instead, try to bring in the girl from 4. "What's the bigger threat?" Troy asks.

"The boy from 9 and the boy from 5 have set up an alliance. They took down the boy from 1 and came close to killing the boy from 2 as well as my District partner." She explains.

Even then, I'm still not buying the idea the 9 and 5 can really be that big of a deal. Obviously, there are currently only two of them. That should mean they shouldn't be the biggest of threats in this arena.

"What about Cer-, I mean what about 11 and 10?" I ask, questioning the danger of Ceres and the girl from 10.

To my confusion, they're designated partners and one of the few to be in the same arena. Ceres is dangerous for sure and from the looks of it, so is her new friend. "Them too as well. Your district partner is the one who took out the girl from 2. She did it on her own." She tells me.

Then, I feel a little worried. I mean, though I'm afraid to trust the girl from 4, nothing in her voice says _'I'm gonna to kill all these children'_. I almost want the girl with us, for protection. However, I know I can't trust her.

"Well... We weren't going anywhere in particular. You can follow us if you want, 4." Troy accepts her into the group. I groan.

Everyone turns back to me. "What's up?" Byke asks me.

"... Can we really trust her." I feel my inner 12 year old coming out when I say this.

The feeling that if we accept her into this group, we're all dead. I feel like I'm making a huge mistake...

The girl from 4 gives a grateful nod. "Hey, if I wanted you dead I would've done it by now." She argues.  
That sort of convinces me to agree to have her in the group.

Following this, Byke and Troy question where they should go from there. To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go following the bloodbath outside of staying away from the tributes. Thankfully, it seems the girl from 4 has an idea. "Since the careers are out and about, we should head to the cornucopia." She suggests.

At that moment, I question this girls sanity. Even if the careers aren't there, it's still a dangerous idea. "No." I tell her.

"Considering the careers are away from the cornucopia, it should be pretty easy getting in and out." Troy argues.

I facepalm. "Remember, we have the flower patch of doom that slows our progress down. If the careers catch us before we make it in or out then we're dead." I argue.

Byke does nod at the comment but her next statement contradicts this action. "Well... it's possible but it isn't too likely honestly." She argues. I facepalm.

"You know what, screw it. We're going with your plan but we need to make sure the careers aren't at the cornucopia at the moment." I tell her.  
They agree and then we begin heading towards the direction of the cornucopia.

* * *

 ** _Far later..._**

* * *

After we get through the flower patch [Of doom!], we find ourselves at the cornucopia. From the looks of it, it's past noon and probably around 2 or 3. However, it's kind of hard to tell as a light rain begins to pour down.

The ground surrounding the cornucopia gives me some creepy vibes. I was only in the bloodbath for about 30 seconds but the memories of those few deaths are haunting. _And if we're not careful, we could be joining them..._

The girl from 4 [I think her name was Monica or something] leads us towards the silver horn. "Alright, I don't think they're here." She tells us as she runs towards the place.

All the supplies are still in an unorganized mess. I can assume that the two of them didn't really feel like spending much of their time setting something like that up. I quickly dive into backpacks, looking for some useful supplies I can take. To be completely honest though, my true goal is to find some real useful weapons.

The others are already one it before I can get to it. "Whoa. This sword is pretty huge." Troy shouts while looking at weaponry. As I look in a certain bag, I find a sleeping bag. "Hell yeah." I say to myself.

I turn around, the girl from 4 is just watching as we gather supplies. "You gonna get anything?" I ask her.

She just shakes her head in response before looking around. I head inside the cornucopia and begin looking for some weapons. I notice a bag of knives and I quickly shove it in my backpack. "You're bag looks full." Byke walks behind me.

"It actually is." I tell her.

The girl from 4 comes in not too long after. Her face is quite anxious. "We should hurry this up. I can see two tributes coming in this direction from the distance." She tells us.

 _... Uh oh..._

* * *

 ** _Remaining Tributes_**

 _ **District 1 Female**_

 _ **District 2 Male**_

 _ **District 4 Female (Monica)**_

 _ **District 5 Male**_

 _ **District 6 Female (Byke)**_

 _ **District 9 Male**_

 _ **District 10 Male**_

 _ **District 10 Female**_

 _ **District 11 Male (Altar)  
**_

 _ **District 11 Female (Ceres)**_

 _ **District 12 Male**_

* * *

 _I was suffering from some severe writers block on this chapter. I don't know why either to be completely honest. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. The arena has been quite tame but that'll need to change. Also, since we're at the games now, I'm actually doing a better job trying to lengthen these chapters. Though I was going to continue the chapter up until the end of the 2nd day, I decided it'd be better to split in two._

 _Also, I'm outta town (Again) at the current moment._

 _ **Icytopia - Thank you so much for reviewing every chapter :D. (Chapter 6), I actually was planning on writing those games but changed my mind last second. Glad you find them very cool. Also, it was because Altar is a 12 year old that it was surprising to them. Everyone else expected something major our of Ceres and maybe a little for Alma. (Chapter 7), I always felt I was being lazy by making my chapters only 3K words for the most part but I'm glad you're fine with them. (Chapter 9), Glad you enjoyed it. More character detail will come.**_


	11. Anxiety Rises (Day 2)

We continue our confusing escape from the cornucopia as we're thankfully not getting chased down. We surprisngly got all the weapons we wanted from the place. "Holy shit. Wasn't expecting to get that amount of goods from the cornucopia honestly." Troy smiles as we walk past the flower patch surrounding the cornucopia.

Troy probably isn't the brightness of people if he didn't expect to get anything good from the cornucopia... However, my attention is still focused on whoever was following us earlier. I could assume it was 5 and 9 but looking back, they didn't look like that. It wasn't the careers either so I can guess it was possibly Ceres and the girl from 10. Anyways, we continue trecking through the plains. We're pretty much in the wide open but we're surrounded by grain or something like that.

"Guys, be quiet. We don't know if anybody is in this area." I whisper to Troy and Byke. They take the order and quiet down. The girl from 4 is on looking. Making sure there aren't any tributes in here.

We don't really plan on running into anybody as of now because obviously, that wouldn't be good. I'm pretty anxious just thinking about it. I still don't even know what to think when it comes to the girl from 4. Is she really trust worthy.

I sigh before the girl from 4 suddenly turns around. "Hey, didn't you pick up some weapons?" She asks me.

I blink before pulling a knife out of my jacket. "Yeah." I nod.

She smiles. "So, you plan on using throwing knives?" She questions me.

I nod back. "Yeah. It's kind of hard to explain but I'm pretty good with them." I admit.

Honestly, the fact that I'm even good with them feels weird. The District 11 boy, 12 years old, somehow good with knives? Complete bullshit. But hey, it's so unbelievable that it's true. The girl from 4 laughs. "Hey, we'll see when you try them." She shrugs as we continue.

I'm now almost certain that the girl wants us dead for the most part. However, I'm inclined to keep my mouth shut and just wait. _When will she turn on us? How will she turn on us? What can I do? I know for a fact that I'm not going to survive by just stabbing her because she has a spear..._

I'm grinding my teeth just thinking about it so I just try and ignore my fears. However, that only makes the feeling worse and I feel as if I'm tearing my teeth apart thinking about it. "Hey uh. Alt, right? You seem anxious." Byke turns back to me.

I facepalm. "Hunger Games. Of course I'm anxious." I remind her.

The girl from 4 chuckles a bit. "Don't worry, I don't plan on hurting any of you." She tells us.

I roll my eyes. "You keep saying that an you expect me to continue buying into it. I'm 12 but I'm not stupid." I remind her.

She shrugs. "Hey, you said it. Not me." She sighs.

We continue trecking through the high grass. I really don't know which one I'm worrying about more. The girl or what could be hiding behind our backs ready to pounce on us. I sigh before looking back up to the sky.

Grey...

I'm reminded a little bit of home. Though it was annually sunny, it became cloudy during the late fall to mid spring months. I feel a bit of nostalgia. Though I'm quickly snapped out of it. _Nostalgia, for home? Tch, 11 was a hell hole and I know that._

 **"Snap"**

The girl from 4 stops. Byke and Troy do the same. I look behind myself. For a few seconds, there is silence and it's a possibility that we just got a little anxious. However, we still don't move. I don't want to. Something _could_ be behind us. It _could_ be ready... The girl from 4 turns back to us. "It's possible that it's another tribute, stay close." She tells us.

I got an odd feeling when she says that. Almost like we're small children and she's our parent wanting us to stay close. I pull off my backpack and slowly begin to take out one of the knife packs I got from the cornucopia.

My heart pulse accelerates faster than it has before. It could be another tribute or a mutt and both of those are potentially dangerous. _One obviously over the other..._

However, my thought process is cut off when I see a muddy, giant brown creature slithering towards us. For a second, I'm so shocked that I'm possibly knocked out of reality. Thankfully, the girl from 4 pulls me out of its way and we both fall down. The creature moves right past us. It's moving slowly... like a snake.

However, it turns around quickly.

"SCREEEECH!" I screams at us and that's the moment I realize. It's a snake, but inflated 10 times...

"Run!" The girl from 4 shouts. Byke and Troy are already on it before I can get on it. I quickly begin to get up and escape while the girl from 4 follows. My mind is racing, possibly faster than my feet are running. My heart is literally pounding against my chest. For the first time, I really feel like I'm about to die. All the cards are stacked against me.

I almost feel tears, like I know this is it. However, I persevere. The giant snake moves past me, rushing right beside me for some reason. I jump back before pulling out one of my knives. Thankfully, this giant snake is also a giant target.

I throw one at it, causing a direct hit. It screeches loudly, crying in pain.

The girl from 4 is catching up to me. "Try and distract it! I'll have to hit it in the head!" She tells me.

She rushes right past me and holds her spear to the snakes head. I quickly pops its head back up before angrily looking at me. My face quickly turns to distress. I throw a knife at its face, praying to goodness it hits.

 **"SCRREEE!"**

 _Okay good._

Currently, the girl from 4 is stabbing the snake over and over. Not really sure if it's working but I pull out my packet of knives and start running a little further away. The snake cries in anger before charging at me.

Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!

I only barely jump out of the way of the snakes fangs. I throw another knife at it. However, it quickly avoids it before striking down at me. "MOVE!" The girl from 4 pulls me out of the way. It rushes straight past me, nearly getting me.

I'm breathing heavily now. I look back up to the girl from 4. She's also breathing pretty hard. "Keep your eyes on the prize." She reminds me, looking towards the serpent. It turns around and begins charging at us at a high speed. I narrowly hits me as I jump out of its path once more. I begin running off in order to gain some distance. As I do, I'm pulling out knives. However, it only begins charging at me from there.

" _NONONONONO_!" I say to myself as I struggle.

"HEY YOU! YEAH! LOOK OVER HERE!" Byke shouts from afar. The serpent stops dead in its tracks. Both me and the girl from 4 can see Byke and Troy trying to get its attention.

Troy is staring over at us making a signal telling us to take advantage. At once, the girl from 4 charges at the serpent before stabbing it across. It screeches once more. I pull out a handful of knives and I swiftly throw my first knife at it. _It flies right past him..._

I throw another one, only for it to miss. "COME ON! COME ON!" I shout at myself as I continue missing.

"You're putting too much pressure on yourself! Calm yourself!" The girl from 4 yells.

I listen and quickly take a deep breath. I pull out another knife and I aim it at the serpents eye. Right as I throw the knife, it turns around right into the knife. It screams louder.

"Now!" Troy shouts to the girl from 4 who takes the opportunity to start stabbing the serpent like a mad man. Over and over again, she thrusts the spear downwards, striking the serpent. Its screams get louder and louder. I rush up and throw another knife at its head.

Thankfully this time, it actually hits it in the eye. "YOU GOT IT!" Byke cheers from afar.

"Thanks." I tell her. The girl from 4 turns back to me. "I got this." She tells me before rushing to the front of the snake before swiftly stabbing it right in the face. The scream it produces is ear raping but it stops moving after that.

"Yes! I think it's done!" Troy rushes up to us.

I take a giant gasp of air. I honestly felt like I was going to die right there. If this girl wasn't here with us, we would've probably died. "Yeah, it's dead..." I breath in a bit.

Byke runs up to us. "Thanks, uh. What's your name again?" She asks the girl from 4.

She smiles to Byke. "Monica." She tells her.

"Let's get going. I think it's about to be around 5 or so." I tell them.

And so, we begin to leave the grain field of the arena...

* * *

 _ **Far Later...**_

* * *

We sit around in the night, camouflaged by the trees and shrubs surrounding us. Byke had complained about it being too cold for her so I just handed her my sleeping bag just to get her to shut up. Troy went to sleep under a bush thinking it would warm him up. Currently, I can't sleep but I probably wasn't going to do that anyways. I wanted to dedicate this night to watching Monica (The girl from 4) just to make sure she doesn't try and pull anything. "Can't sleep?" She asks me.

I look up. Her eyes seem exhausted. I nod in response. She just lays back against a tree in response. "Yeah, I can't either. Even with the careers down a few in numbers, we still have a few other tributes to be on edge about." She admits.

I look up to the sky. The sky is darker than usual. I can't seem to see the moon so... it's cloudy. I look back to Monica. "You know, you were pretty good out there." She admits.

I smile. "You too." I shrug.

It's still strange. She protected us from whatever that beast was. I feel grateful that she didn't just leave us to die or anything like that. Maybe she really wants to watch us or something. Though that is questionable. _I don't think anybody has ever done that with plans on keeping them alive..._

It kind of reminds me of last year, however the big children alliance didn't kill each other. Instead, they got picked apart by rigged traps in the arena (Well, one of them did survive, District 9). Suddenly I'm reminded of something. Back at the reapings, she was the one who volunteered for that smaller girl. I look back to her. She seems to be looking up at the grey and black sky.

"Hey, about the reapings..." I begin to ask her.

She interrupts me though. "I volunteered in place of my sister, yes." She sighs.

I'm quiet for a moment. Volunteering... in place of a sibling? She cared for her sister that much? _I wonder if Alma would have done the same..._ "Isn't your brother also here in the arena?" She asks me.

I stop dazing out and nod. "Yes. But... if he's alive..." I start to worry. _I never really thought about that. Is he alive?_

Monica seems like she wants to say something about it but she instead keeps her mouth shut. I take a deep breath before looking back up at the sky. I notice a spark of light. It's small though. _Lightning?_

It's quiet. A little too quiet for my tastes but we've already been in enough danger today. "Hey... do you think it's gonna-," Monica begins when suddenly, we hear a small boom of thunder.

"Storm? Yeah. Definitely." I groan.

Monica gets up. "Let's find some shelter. I don't wanna get struck by lightning." She begins to shake Troy and Byke awake.

"Wha-, huh?" Troy says groggily, getting up.

"Storm. We gotta find shelter." I tell them. Byke hands me my sleeping bag quickly. However, I'm unable to put it together again. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." I shout in distress.

"Gah. Here." Monica takes it from me before quickly shoving it in my backpack.

We swiftly begin moving soon after that. The night is cold, just like back in 11. Though I'm curious... Do the gamemakers plan on doing anything to us tonight? Well, hopefully not. They have 11 other tributes to play with...

 **End of the 2nd Day...**

* * *

 **Tributes Currently Alive**

 **District 1 Female**

 **District 2 Male**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Male**

 **District 6 Female (Byke)**

 **District 6 Male (Troy)**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 10 Female**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**

 **District 12 Male**

* * *

 _First true action sequence has been completed. Also, I just noticed a mistake from the first two chapters. It says Troy (District 6) was killed in the bloodbath... somehow he showed up last chapter (Though not written as alive) and I've only just now noticed this mistake. God damn it XD_

 _Also no deaths on the 2nd day. Weird huh. Also, this was obviously my shortest chapter in the actual games and sorry about that. I meant for it to be longer but it just didn't happen._

 **Icytopia - Don't worry. Criticism is good because it teaches people to improve. Also, I'm surprised I missed those mistakes. Thanks for reviewing.**


	12. In Cold Water (Day 3)

It began raining after a while. Thankfully, we managed to find a cave where we're currently taking shelter in. Once again, Byke and Troy are just straight knocked out. I feel like going to sleep as well but I keep myself awake. "You know, you could go to sleep too." Monica brings it to my attention.

I sigh. "Yeah, but I don't want to right now." I tell her.

Monica only groans. "I seriously can't read you, 11. You seem a lot older than you look." She admits.

I chuckle. "Crazy stuff happens in 11 you know. I'm kind of used to things being bad." I shrug.

Monica thinks over it for a minute. "Do you even think of the possibility that you... may not come out of the arena alive?" She asks me.

I look down at my shoes. "Yeah. More than likely, I may die. However, I just can't afford to be held down by that thought." I explain.

She nods. She looks outside of the cave. It's begun pouring down harder that it was before. "Hm. It seems pretty dangerous out there." Monica says, looking outwards.

I lower my head. The rain brings a chill to the cave. I wish I could use the sleeping bag I picked up earlier but it seems I'm not gonna be able to do that. I sigh, this feels so weird. I'm not sure if I completely feel safe or not. Especially with this girl, Monica, with that spear.

However, I just swallow my saliva and lay my head back against the dark cave. I actually come close to slowly drifting out when Monica suddenly asks me a question. "Since you really don't seem like you plan on sleeping... I kind of want to know something..." She begins.

I turn around to her. I nod. "What's that?" I ask.

She looks around. "What was it... that gave you the ability to use knives that well?" She asks.

I stop and turn back to the wall. My insides hurt thinking about the things that happened between the time of the 96th games and now. My mind hurts too. I take a deep breath. "Well... It's hard to go over. It's a long story and I really... don't like touching that subject." I admit.

She looks up. "Yeah, I guess I can understand where you're coming from." She sighs.

I close my eyes. Those memories... just hurt...

Everything happened so fast, or so it seemed. It all happened in a never ending chain of horrible memories. One thing after the other, which I guess led to me being who I am.

 _If dad hadn't died... maybe..._

I look over to Byke and Troy. Troy sleeps near Byke, trying to absorb the warmth of my sleeping bag. _I wouldn't have been able to survive and longer than Day 2..._

I'm already confused. What day is it? Is it still Day 2 or is it Day 3 already? Assuming it's been hours since we heard the anthem (No deaths today for some reason), it may be Day 3 already...

Man, I'm alive and it's the 3rd day. I guess the fact that there are only 2 careers makes this a... well... interesting game. _Who knows how far I'll get?_ I lay my head back. It almost feels relaxing in here...

 **"BOOM!"**

I jolt back. Monica also jumps up, holding her spear out. Byke jumps up, knocking Troy off of her and into the ground. I hit my head on a rock, knocking me to the ground in pain. After only a few seconds, we're all sprawled around on the floor.

"Augh. It was just a canon." I rub my head in pain.

Monica slowly begins laughing. "Heh, that was actually pretty funny." She admits. I look around, starting to laugh as well.

"I wonder who that was..." My smile drops. I'm reminded of Soya and Alma when I say this. Not only because I'm reminded that they're both fighting for their lives simultaneously, but I won't know when they die...

I take a small breath. _Just keep your calm Altar, we just gotta hope for the best..._

"I don't think anybody is really around, why don't we go back to sleep?" Troy says, yawning. Byke gives him a glare.

"Of course you'd be the one willing to say that. Come on. Be real, there could be something out there ready to hunt us down right now!" She yells at him.

Monica agrees. "Yeah actually. I didn't really think about it but who knows, maybe the Gamemakers really do plan on pulling something on us. We should just be careful with how we sleep." She tells us.

She's right actually...

I lay my head back against the wall once morel... slowly but shortly drifting into a deep sleep...

 **"KIDS! YOU NEED TO WAKE UP! NOW!"** I'm shaken awake all of a sudden. Moncia stands above me, looking around frantically. Byke and Troy are both jumping around like monkeys. For a second, I'm almost sure I'm in the middle of a nightmare when I start to notice that I feel... pretty cold.

I then realize my hands are in water. My eyes begin opening. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING?!" I shout, looking around. Byke quickly hands Monica my sleeping back and she shoves it in her backpack, not even bothering to finish rolling it up.

"The cave is flooding! We gotta hurry!" She grabs me. I shake my head. I feel quite groggy but I'm slowly starting to feel sick. I'm so out of it right now, none of it feels real. Even as I try moving as quickly as I can, I'm slow. However, I know this isn't a dream. My heart is pounding like mad. I immediately charge towards the exit of the cave... only to notice the place we came in from isn't there anymore...

"Uh..." I step back.

"Now you see our dilemma right?" Monica says. Water is rushing in from somewhere, flooding the cave while we suffer and search frantically for a way out. The cave keeps filling and filling but no clear way out in sight. At this point, I'm starting to panic. I don't want to drown. I don't want to die...

I can't even swim, so searching around is harder than it should be. By this point, Troy and Byke have given up all hope. The former is crying for his life. I grit my teeth in annoyance. It's making this whole situation more dreadful. If anything, Monica is doing the best out of us. "Guys, I found an exit! It's also where all the rain seems to be coming from!" She rushes up to us.

On the other side of a giant pond of water is... another wall. However, if you look up you can tell there's no roof over that area of the cave. "I can assume none of you can swim..." She begins.

I shake my head in disappointment. Troy and Byke both do the same. "Grh. Well, Byke. Get on my back. I'll try and get you over there so you can climb up." She says, jumping into the water.

Byke softly gets on her back and Monica begins to attempt to swim towards other side of the cave. By this point, the water is closing up on my knees. I'm shaking in worry. For the 2nd consecutive day, I'm actually afraid I'm about to go. _Is this really it?_

Monica quickly pushes Byke off of her before directing her to climb up the rocks and out of the hole we're in. She begins swimming over to our area. The water _is_ at our knees now!

"11! You go first!" Troy pushes me forwards. I nearly fall into the water, but thankfully Monica catches me. "Stay calm. You're actually pretty heavy." She admits. I turn back to Troy. "What are you doing?" I ask him.

He waits behind him. The water is rising faster than before suddenly. The water is up to his chest. He's flailing around like a mad man now. "We need to hurry." I worry.

Monica groans. "I know, but you're heavy and I'm going as fast as I can." She argues. I grit my teeth as we make it to the other side. Only barely too. I look up and notice Byke still struggling to climb out.

Troy is still on the other side, the water making it to his head. Monica jumps into the water. Right as she does, the water reaches the tip of that area of the cave. My eyes widen, my heart starts pounding. _I gotta get out of here though..._

I grit my teeth before putting my hands against the wall. I slowly begin to climb up. It is surprisngly easy to get up. Byke seems to be struggling somehow though. I guess it's a lack of experience along with the rain. I look up. It's raining heavily at the moment. However, I manage to ease my way out of the cave and hold my hand out to Byke. "Grab on! I got you!" I tell her over the roaring sounds of the storm.

She grabs my hand and I begin pulling her over. _And she's heavier than I think she should be..._

I struggle to lift her up for almost a minute. "Can you try to pull yourself up by climbing I'm supporting you. You shouldn't fall into the water!" I tell her. She looks back down at the dark black water under her.

I still don't see Monica or Troy...

However, at once, I manage to pull her over and out of the cave. I take a giant breath. Good, Byke isn't dead... yet...

However, my thoughts now turn to Monica and Troy. I look back down into the cave. "MONICA! TROY!" I shout. No answers...

No canons yet... they must be barely alive. However, I... can't do anything about it. I can't swim...

I almost feel like crying. And hey, I do feel a few tears coming up. "She can't be gone! She can do this! She has to save Troy!" Byke worries.

That knocks me out of my inner dilemma. After a few minutes though, they still haven't come up. It's official... They're both dead... _Now I need to know where the canon is?_

My heart hurts now. I couldn't do anything... and now they're both gone...

"They're both gone, Byke." I tell her, falling to my knees.

She looks over at me. Her face is as dopey as ever. She seems like she has no idea what I'm on about. _That's how she's always been..._ "There was no other way. I just... I just let them die!" I feel tears beginning to form.

It only takes 3 seconds for me to begin sobbing like a child. I've cried before, getting hurt on the field, failing in class... But this is years of tears I've held back, all coming together. "I couldn't save them..." I cry.

Byke goes quiet. It seems she doesn't know how to respond to my mental breakdown. "But... But... they really are..." Bykes voice quiets.

A few more seconds pass. My tears resolve to mere sobs, but I still feel pain. Byke looks around. "They aren't dead." Byke finally says.

I begin to rub my eyes when she says this. I almost want to yell but I go back to being calm. "What do you mean they aren't dead? There was no way out of there? The closed it up and the only other one was underwater. They would've been out by now obviously." I tell her.

"And there canon would've gone off now." She argues.

 _What am I doing? She's clearly an idiot. They probably got trapped in a certain area and are beginning to drown._

"I'm honestly sure they would've drowned by now. Maybe they're coming up with an escape?" She wonders.

I sigh before getting up from my knees. I look up at the sky. "You know... no matter how stupid you sound, I hope you're right." I sigh, admitting that there is some truth to her comment.

A few moments pass. I begin drying up my tears. The thought still remains. _Am I truly a failure? Monica would've perished, even if I stayed behind._

A few minutes pass. By this point, I feel like I was given false hope. They're probably dead now, just somebody is too busy drinking to notice or something. I grit my teeth thinking about that.

Me and Byke have been quiet for what seems like hours, not wishing to speak to each other. The sound of rain continuously interrupts our silence. The thought continues to bury itself into my head as I put my knees to my chest. _You know... Someway, somehow... I miss my mother... and District 11._

While I continue my self-loathing though... Byke jumps up. "Did you hear that?" She asks.

I turn around. "Huh?" I question her.

She jumps down from the top of the cave and into the the shallow water surrounding the cave. I jump down and follow her. "What do you mean did I hear that? You didn't even explain anything." I tell her.

She shushes me before looking around. The sound of footsteps echo through the night. Suddenly, I hear a sound. A faint sound of someone shouting something. Byke walks over to where the entrance to the cave once stood. "Hello?" She shouts at the wall that stands in its place.

 _Okay, what is she doing now?_ "Uh... what are we trying to do here?" I ask her. She shushes me again.

"I-Is that you guys?" I faintly hear a familiar voice. _Troy..._

"Troy? Monica?" I put my head against the entrance to the cave.

"Yes! It's us! The place you guys exited from is flooded now and we won't be able to get out from there without drowning. Apparently though, the part of the cave that was enclosed isn't as strong as we thought. We were trying to dig our way out but it's too dark to see in here anymore." She explains.

I look around. I pick up a fallen tree branch floating in the water and begin slamming it against the wall. "No idiot. You should try cutting around the dirt so we can pull the rocks out easier." Byke does her own thing.

"Hurry! The water is at our necks!" Troy cries.

We go as quickly as we can. Eventually getting the rocks out of the way. Monica and Troy quickly come bursting out of the cave. Both of them falling on me and Byke in the process...

"Whoa! That was close." Troy breathes heavily.

"Thanks! Oh my goodness!" Monica jumps off of us. She seems to be shaking. _Weather from cold or fear, I don't know nor do I care._

Troy is breathing heavily. "I... I really thought I was gonna." He begins. However, he doesn't finish. It's clear that the two really thought they were going to die.

"Don't scare us like that!" I beg them.

Monica begins to form a smile. "Heh. I scared you?" She admits.

"Of course. We thought you drowned!" I tell them.

"Thanks for saving us though." She admits, hugging Byke and me. I feel a little awkward when she does that.

"Uh... Well, we should be thanking you because without you, we would have drowned." I admit.

Troy nods as he tries to pull Monica off of us. "Where are we going to sleep now though?" Troy asks.

I look around. The floor is out of the question as it's flooded right now. "Somewhere high up might be pretty good." Byke says.

I sigh. _We all just nearly drowned and the first thing they want now is somewhere to sleep. Well, can't blame that would tire me out as well but can't we wait a bit?_ "Let's go. Maybe we'll find a pretty good place for you to doze off..." Monica begins walking. We all follow.

 _This is probably the 3rd day... And what an opening to it..._

* * *

 ** _Surviving Tributes_**

 **District 1 Female**

 **District 2 Male**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Male**

 **District 6 Female (Byke)**

 **District 6 Male (Troy)**

 **District 10 Female**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 12 Female**

* * *

 _Glad to get this chapter out of the park. Yeah, kind of filler-ish but something needed to fill in the early morning slot to the 3rd day. Also, this is another short chapter but I hope to get these longer once more things begin happening. Who knows, maybe the main 4 will encounter something "INSANE!?" in the next chapter?_


	13. Like the Stars in the Sky (Day 3)

I find myself waking up so suddenly. My mind feels a little scattered and my body already feels exhausted...

I look up. I'm in the fields of wheat and the sun is already up in the sky. "Huh..." I begin to get up. I rub my eyes only to notice Troy and Byke not too far from where I was sleeping. I get up and stretch. The sun happens to still not be in the middle of the sky so... I guess it's still pretty early. Monica is out cold and her spear is laying on her chest.

 _Hm, we must have been up a while early this morning if they're all so tired._ Me? oh, I'm used to waking up early all the time. Of course, back in 11 we would be forced to wake up early and hurry up towards the plantations. I look around.

The area we're in kind of reminds me of home. The tall grass and wheat fields reminds me so much of home. The moments where me and my older brother were allowed to roam freely and we did what we wanted, chasing each other through the grass fields. However, when I think back to it... I can't feel much nostalgia for it. I hated living in 11.

Before I started school... I had worked with my older brother. However, they were smaller jobs. They would not dare work a small child like me to death. As I grew to start school with the money that my father had gotten from... a certain situation, I could remember walking towards home and seeing people being hurt. Beaten like they were tools, pets, may I say slaves? Sometimes, they were children. One time my brother got a broken nose.

He told me it was nothing to worry about. Apparently, one of the peacekeepers were drunk. The moment I remember that, I feel aggravated on the inside. My mothers reaction was something I can't forget.

She admitted that the Capitol treats themselves worse then they treat us. I don't know weather to say that isn't true or not. _It seems like it..._

I sit back down, hidden to everything (Well except cameras, but screw those things). Byke, Troy and Monica aren't too far off. They're all quiet... Hm...

I stand up and begin taking a walk. No matter what time it is, for some reason I feel wide awake. I feel almost at harmony. Safe once again. Even though Alma isn't here.

 _I hope he's still alive... There's definitely a chance that he's alive._

I suddenly stop to think about our current situation _. Does he think I'm still alive?_ Most likely not. It's actually pretty incredible knowing that I'm still okay and it's only the 3rd day. Well... to be fair the 99th Games lasted under a week and the one before lasted about 4 days. I look up at the sky.

Today the sky is clear of any clouds. The sun is shinning brightly. Then... I'm suddenly reminded of another issue.

We have no water currently...

This wasn't an issue after we met Monica. She had a container already filled with some ice cold water. I was thankful for that and it encouraged me to let her stay for the most part. However, when she runs out... where will we find water? When it rains? Well... rain cannot come any sooner...

Suddenly though, I stop dead in my tracks. I hear something moving. I look behind myself. I can't see the rest. _They're probably just getting up about now._ _Though I should be caref-,_

 **"WHAM!"** A sudden force knocks me to the ground. My head hits the dirt, knocking all of the wind right out of me. I don't even know how to properly respond to this until I notice somebody on top of me. It's a boy and he looks almost familiar.

He curls his hand into a ball before hurling it at my face. **"WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!"** He continuously punches me. Blood begins to come out of my nose as I screech the names of my friends.

"SHUT UP AND DIE! BRAT!" He shouts, picking up a sword he had not to far away. He begins to inch it towards my throat. _No! THIS CANNOT BE IT! This can't be where my story ends!_

Though this kids knee is on my arms, I quickly manage to loosen myself and I begin pushing him off. _He's pretty weak for an older looking tribute._ He's knocked back. I quickly jump up and begin taking off my backpack when he jumps up to try and slice me. I jump backwards, getting my bag off. My heart is pounding with fear. THIS GUY'S GOT ME! HOW AM I GOING TO ESCAPE HIM!

He lunges at me once more. However, this time I quickly hit him with my backpack. This knocks him to the ground and I quickly take advantage by kicking and punching him to the ground.

His sword is knocked to the ground as well. I quickly pick it up and throw it out of sight. I kick him once more before grabbing my backpack and running as far off as I can. As I do, I begin pulling out knives. A small packet of them are ready. The boy still happens to be down though. I look around.

"Altar! Altar!" I hear somebody shouting my name from not too far away. I turn to my right. Byke and Troy are frantically searching for me. "Guys!" I shout to them, rushing over in there direction.

However, Monica seems to jump and run when something jumps at her. In only a few seconds, she's on the ground. "Monica!" I shout, rushing over to my friends.

With a knife in hand, I charge at her attacker. The kid doesn't notice me until the last second. This one is a she though. _So who was the other one then..._

Doesn't matter. Without thinking, I quickly sink my knife into the girls back. She screams in agony before going down. However, even though this happens there isn't an immediate canon. However, she seems... dead... I run over to check. Blood pours out of her side. I quickly check for a pulse...

 _None though..._

My heart sinks. _I-I just... killed her... I just killed another human._ I fall on my back, the thought registering... This entire time, I've been thinking about the possibility that I could see the games to the end... maybe even win. I was hoping I could go home, act like none of this ever happened. However, somehow through this journey... I've forgotten the point of the games.

"I-Is she dead?" Byke asks.

Monica quickly grabs her spear and rushes to check. "I think so. Just no canon." She looks around.

"AHH!" Someone screams. Troy is knocked to the floor. Monica quickly jumps into action. The other tribute is beating Troy into a pulp. Monica quickly rushes and tries to pull the boy off of Troy. However, he turns around and elbows Monica in the nose. I grab another knife and aim at his head.

However, it misses by a long shot though. It also manages to gain the boys attention. _Oh no. Oh no..._ I pick up another one before launching it at him. He dodges it before running at me. Picking up my backpack, I pull out another knife. Aiming carefully, I try and throw one more at him.

 _"Woosh..."_

It flies past him life a fly. **"WHAM!"** A sudden force knocks me to the ground _and I'm out of it in a split second..._

* * *

 _ **Time Passes**_

* * *

I jump. _Where! What! What even happened?!_

I look up and realize that Byke and Troy are sitting around me. "Yes! You really are okay!" Byke squeals with joy.

I begin to get up a little. My head is in complete pain. To my right, Monica is doing her own thing. I lay my head back down. "What happened?" I ask.

"District 8 attacked." Troy explains.

"Actually we don't exactly know... I mean, they had the District 8 jackets but the District 8 tributes were both killed in the bloodbath. We're confused as well." Monica sighs.

"Probably just a mistake or something." I decide to shrug it off.

"At least your okay. Your lucky Monica managed to end it before things got out of hand." Byke admits.

I shake my head. "Honestly, I'm just happy that you all are okay." I smile.

Troy and Byke smile back. However, Monica just stares at the blue sky. "I don't even understand this myself..." She sighs.

I lay back into the grass. "Nothing ever makes sense in the Hunger Games." I remind them.

"Hey... Uh... Monica?" Troy stutters for a moment.

Everyone gets back up. "Yeah?" She answers.

"Uh... We're... We're sort of running through our water supplies." He tells her.

Monica responds with a facepalm. "Of course we are. Maybe we can sneak our way back to the cornucopia?" She questions.

I quickly begin shaking my head. "No. Hell no. You want us to die?" I question her.

"Do you want to die of thirst?" She gives me a disappointed look.

After a long pause, I nod. "I guess you're right. Please just don't get us killed." We begin to get up and move out.

However, I'm quick to note the pain on my head. _That punch to the head really did a number on me..._

"Are you gonna be able to make it?" Byke asks me.

"Yeah. I'm only a little lightheaded." I touch the side of my forehead. A throbbing sensation builds up from there.

We begin walking through the grain field, looking out for danger. I look up and notice dark clouds. "Rain again?" Troy questions.

"Probably. Hopefully it'll mask us as we make our way to the cornucopia." Monica hopes.

We eventually make it to the flower patch that stands in front of the cornucopia. Getting trapped in here obviously makes you easy picking. We don't plan on getting stuck.

"I've always wonder what they've put in here to make us slower? Mud or something?" Byke suggests.

"That would make sense now that we th-, Hold up... Mud..." Troy begins to think.

Troy quickly puts his hand in the mud, digging around. "Troy, it's just mud. We can't drink mud." I tell him.

He gets up, disappointed. "But then again. What keeps it wet?" I look around.

"Obviously the gamemakers. Some sort of tech underground probably." Byke says as she picks some of the flowers. The flowers are pretty huge. Almost the size of my head. They reach up to our knees.

She picks it up before noticing something at the stem. "Hey, have you ever tried honey suckles before?" She asks us.

We all turn around and give her a confused look. "Yeah? Why?" I ask.

She takes a look at the bottom. "Because maybe it's possible that these flowers are filled with water. It'd explain how it could keep the surrounding area wet." She suggests.

I pick a flower before trying to squeeze it. A small bit of water squirts out. "How the heck did you know that?" I give her a confused look.

She just shrugs. I quickly rush and suck the stem of the flower. In an instant, I'm refreshed with water. "Guys. She's actually right." I tell everyone.

Everyone in the group tries the same. The water from the flowers refreshes us like nothing before. Troy squeals with excitement. Monica quickly quiets him. We look back over to the cornucopia.

"I can make the assumption that nobody is near it..." I admit, wiping my face.

Across from us is the cornucopia. Nobody seems to be over there at the moment. "You wanna go check it out?" Byke asks.

I'm quick to remind her why that isn't a good idea. She sighs and we begin to turn ourselves around. Considering how quiet the cornucopia is, I wonder why the careers have been abandoning it...

* * *

 _ **Time Passes Once More...**_

* * *

We continue eating the food that we had hunted the day before. Byke and Troy take the main bulk of it just because I'm nice. Monica doesn't seem to be interested in eating though.

"What's up?" Byke asks.

Monica just sighs. "Nothing." She looks up at the sky.

The sky has darkened. It looks like it may storm once more. "Should we take shelter again?" I ask.

Monica shakes her head. "If the last time it rained was any indication..." She reminds me.

I shrug before standing up.

 **"BOOM!" "BOOM!"**

We all look around at the sound of canons. "Two canons this time... You don't think..." Byke looks back down at her food.

Monica shrugs. "Maybe. Possibly the careers. Could also be those two from 5 and 9." She suggests.

"I'd rather it be the careers. We need some sort of target off our back." I admit.

Troy looks around. "How many tributes are remaining?" He asks.

"Well... If we don't count those who died just now then that would make 8..." I count.

"Wow. Top 8... It feels so weird realizing that we'd both make it here..." Troy admits, looking to the ground and trying to hide his smile. _To be fair... I didn't think I'd make it to this point either._

"The sad fact is that there were 24 other tributes fighting in another arena and they're still fighting. We're not exactly top ei-," She stops before she can finish saying 8.

I jump, looking around to make sure there aren't any tributes around or anything. "Did you see something?" I ask.

She takes a deep breath. "Okay. I just realized something." She begins to explain.

Her eyes have been widened, as if she's afraid now. My heart pulse increases just waiting for her to begin explaining.

"There are two arenas... They concept of these games is that we all converge at the end when few tributes remain." She tells.

I give a nod. "So the games are almost complete you mean..." I begin.

She nods. However, fear is still evident in her voice and posture. "We may have survived the careers. A lot of events in this arena but the moment all that ends, we have new arena events and tributes to deal with." She breathes out.

"Well, it doesn't seem like too big of a deal. Sure. New careers and new tributes but we've survived this long. What will stop us now?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "We've survived this long by avoiding people. But you remember what happened this morning with the boy and girl from 8. They must have been from the other arena since the kids from 8 already died." She exclaims.

Troy nods. "Now all of this is starting to make sense..." He admits.

The thought then registers. "You mean... We might be in for some real trouble now that god knows how many tributes are going to be flooding this area of the games?" I ask.

She nods. Meanwhile, Byke is doing her own thing. "Hey uh... We might be running through your food supplies a little too quickly..." She admits.

We quickly get up. "Great. Just great. I guess we're going hunting." Monica grits her teeth in annoyance.

"I don't think any of us know how to hunt." Troy tells her.

She sighs. "Why do you think this is going to be so annoying." She gets up.

* * *

 _ **Time Passes Again...**_

* * *

As we head into the forests, I notice something falling from the sky. "Hey... Is that-," I look up.

Falling from the sky is snow. White snow. "Wow. I can't believe it." Byke smiles.

"Wow. I haven't seen snow before." Monica admits, a small smile growing on her face.

I'm surprised they aren't reacting with pure horror. The previous game was in a completely snow arena. Even when the sun was out and possibly scorching hot, the snow stayed on the ground. Many horrors came from those 5 day games but what's done is done. I can't help but freak out over the possibility of a more sadistic snow Hunger Games.

"Hopefully this won't slow us down. We need to find something to kill before it's too late." Monica tells us.

We quietly begin moving through the snow. The fact that we haven't found a single animal is almost completely sadistic. Do the gamemakers love seeing children slowly starving to death or something? _What the hell am I talking about? This is the Capitol._

I'm inclined to start another one hour Capitol rant at this moment but then I'm stopped when a piercing screech hits our ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"SCREEEE!" The sound of a bird soaring around us hits the air.

"Ow. My ears." Troy screams.

I look around. "I don't get where that came from and wh-," Suddenly, I see a bird flying towards me at high speeds.

However, it passes right by me. Instead, hitting the person next to me... Byke.

The bird cuts straight through her shoulder, knocking her to the ground. "Byke!" Troy shouts, running over to his District partner.

I turn around. Another bird comes soaring in my direction. I quickly get down on the ground before it can even hit me.

Luckily, it soars right past me. Troy is busy quickly picking Byke up. "Can you carry me?" She asks him.

He responds with a nod, giving her a piggyback ride. "Run!" I shout.

Monica still seems to be stuck at a loss for words before we can even begin. As we head forwards, I see a baby blue object flying right towards us. "Dodge!" Monica shouts.

At once, we all jump out of the way of the bird flying at our face. "Damn it. Out of all things that had to attack us, it had to be birds. They couldn't make it any easier on us." I grit my teeth as we try to run away.

"Not only are they quick but we can't even hit them." Monica turns around.

I turn my head just in time to notice another one flying at me. I quickly pull my backpack in front of my face. The bird stabs straight into my backpack. I quickly slam my bag to the ground.

"I got one!" I tell Monica, Byke and Troy.

They continue running up and I rush off after them. "Hey Byke? Are you going to be okay?" I ask.

She can't even smile. "I-I don't know." She says.

Troy seems nervous as we rush along. "I think she's bleeding pretty hard." He tells me. I suddenly hear a ripple in the wind. It sounds almost like a knife-,

I get down as another bird flies right past me. It turns itself around before flying at Monica. "AH!" At once, she just barely avoids the baby blue bird.

Once more though, it turns itself around, ready to strike even just one of us. "Troy! Byke!" I shout over to them. The bird flies towards them, the most vulnerable out of all of us.

All at once, it strikes Troy in the chest, knocking him to the ground. My eyes widen in fear as he hits the ground screaming in agony. Byke also hits the ground, holding onto her shoulder. Monica rushes over to them. However, another bird rushes us.

"GET BACK!" I shout, swinging back bag rapidly, praying to god I'll hit it. I close my eyes when suddenly, I do feel something getting hit. One of the birds ends up hitting the tree.

"YES!" I shout.

I look up though... a swarm of birds flying over us...

"Oh god no!" I shout.

Troy and Byke are both writhing in pain from the attacks landed on them. "We've got to get out of here." I tell them.

"Yes. I see that. Just how are we going to get these two up?" She asks.

Byke, her shoulder still hurting. "I can run... I can run... My shoulder hurts but I can still run." She begs.

Troy is still crying in pain. "He can't though. Who's gonna help Troy?" I ask.

"I can stay back and try and fend them off?" Byke tells us.

Monica is quick to dismiss this idea. "No. You'd both die. We can't have that." She says.

"So what now? We all die together then." I glare at her.

Monica only closes her eyes. "Possibly. You can run if you want." She says.

My eyes widen. This is a first. After all that time of feeling as if she'd betray us at any moment, the simple fact that she's willing to let me run from a situation like this shocks me.

"Well. What are you waiting for?" She asks.

I shake my head. "I... I-I can't." I say.

I suddenly here another silent but piercing whistling sound. I turn around in time to block another bird with my bag. I quickly throw my bag at the ground. "If we're going to stay around, we have to protect these two and maybe get them out as quickly as we can." I tell them.

"And how are we going to do that?" Monica replies.

I try to come up with an answer but I just can't come up with anything realistic. However, Troy begins to speak up. Blood starting to spill through his chest.

"J-Just leave us..." He begs.

I shake my head. "Hell no. You know it yourself that you do NOT want to die right now. Trust me on this!" I tell them, my voice starting to become distressed.

Byke looks up at me. "Why do you suddenly care about our safety?" Byke asks.

I look over to her. _She's got a point..._ I close my eyes. "I don't know." I say to them, but it feels like I'm saying this to myself.

I look around. Another bird is heading in our direction. I quickly duck under it and begin to pick up Troy. "We should at least try to get away." I say to them.

Monica nods before slowly lifting Byke onto her back. However, I struggle to get Troy.

"ARGH. JUST TAKE BYKE!" She drops Byke and we trade.

We then begin rushing through the woods, looking behind ourselves to make sure nothing comes at us. Soon, another bird comes flying directly at us. This time, from the front. Ignoring all logic, I try and dodge it. Somehow though, it misses me.

"Calm the heck down Alt! I nearly fell down!" Byke argues.

"Do you want us to die?" I question her.

Monica is still running ahead of us and we follow her. Byke moves a bit. "BEHIND US!" She shouts. I try and turn around but it only leads to something striking right through my shoulder.

"AAAH!" I shout, nearly falling back. It only barely grazed me but holy shit! That hurt like hell!

It takes me a second to remember that I got stabbed in the shoulder in the bloodbath and that's slowly been healing up. _So are you telling me that these birds are striking our most damaged areas? Oh man, oh man!_

I continue carrying Byke through the snowy woods. As we quickly advance though, I a sound akin to knife flying through the air. Before I can try to do anything about it though, something stabs straight through the side of my leg. I scream, falling to the ground in complete agony.

Byke falls onto me. She begins to get up though. "Come on Alt. We can do this." She begs.

She starts to drag me off as I feel the blood slowly seeping from my legs. I'm almost in tears. Somehow though, Byke slowly manages to pull me away from danger. "Come on. Come on." She says to herself as she pulls me through the snow.

I can see through the corner of my eye, another bird heading right towards us. Before it can come close to hitting Byke though, she falls straight into something, yelling.

"WHOA!" She shouts, falling.

I begin to get up. "Byke!" I shout her name. Suddenly though, water is splashed into my face.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what asshole put this lake near us." She tells me.

I look around us. The birds slowly seem to fly away. _Why are they flying away? Is there something else here to finish us._

I look across the lake. Troy is laid across the ground, blooding still spilling through his chest. Monica is over him, panicking. I begin crawling in their direction. "Guys!" I shout over to them.

Monica gets up and quickly rushes to me. "Oh god. Are they gone?" She asks.

I give a nod. "Yeah. They stopped for now..." I say to myself.

I look over to Troy. He's crying in agony. My heart hurts just seeing him cry. Byke against a tree stump next to the lake. Her shoulder is leaking blood. I'm spread across the ground in pain. "A-Are we going to die?" Byke asks.

I want to slap Byke across the head really hard right there... But I hate to admit that she has a point. Troy is definitely not going to make it unless we get a sort of sponsors. Any more movements will cause Byke to most likely bleed out on the spot and well... I'm out of commission.

"No. No you aren't! We just need... Hope or something!" Monica begs.

The girl from 4 looks to the sky. "Please... Somebody sponsor these children..." She whispers. ..

* * *

 **Time Passes...**

* * *

Troy has stopped crying, but he's eerily quiet now. No canon yet so he isn't dead. Thank heavens. As the sun continues to go down, I look over at Monica. She's been sitting at the lake. She was crying for hours at a time while we all bled to near death.

I slowly begin to crawl over towards her. Before I can even get to her, she turns around and sighs. "You fine?" She asks.

I give a nod. "Don't pit this on yourself. It would've been a lot worse if you weren't here." I tell her.

She shakes her head. However, she doesn't even bother to say anything to me. I sigh.

"You know... Why did you stay?" She asks.

I look towards the sunset. "I don't know... I feel like an idiot for staying but I thought I could protect them." I look back towards Troy and Byke. Byke is half sleep laying next to a tree.

"I feel like an idiot all the time. Thinking I can protect a bunch of 12 year olds like the person I am. But even then, I'm up for it." She admits.

"Why do you want to protect us?" I ask her.

She takes a deep breath. "I don't know. Something in me wants to protect those who are afraid. That's why I volunteered for my sister." She puts her knees to her chest.

I think for a moment. "Were you also supposed to be a career?" I ask.

Monica shakes her head. "No. I did pretend to be one before the games could begin but there were tensions between me and them since I wasn't supposed to volunteer." She admits, looking at her hands.

She clenches her palms. "I killed my District partner in the bloodbath. I questioned why I had done it. We knew each other. I'd seen him before. I'd seen his family. I killed him... just because he was the closest career I could find." She admits, sadly.

I think about it. _I didn't realize how hard it was on her..._

"I was beginning my escape from the bloodbath around that time actually. I was getting chased by the District 2 female when your District partner took her out." She explains.

"Huh? Ceres did that?" I ask.

Monica nods. "Yeah. In complete cold blood. She mowed her down as if she was a 12 year old. All with an axe in fact." She tells me.

I gulp. Now I definitely do not want to come across my District partner...

"That reminds me though. Isn't your brother in the other arena?" She asks me.

I nod. "Yeah. I don't know if he's dead or alive but I can tell you, he's pretty tough." I admit.

Monica smiles. "I wish I had a sibling like that. My sister looks up to me as if I'm the brightest star in the world. Especially since mother..." She begins to quiet though.

I want to just give her a pat on the back but my current condition says otherwise. "You know. I lost my father when he was young." I admit.

Her eyes widen. "B-But your 12. How old were you when he d-," She begins to ask.

"Eight. He was shot I think." I sigh.

"What did he do for that to happen?" She asks.

I sigh. "It's a mystery... but considering what it's like back home, I doubt it was anything important." I admit.

She looks at the grass. Her face seems to reflect some sort of guilt now. I don't know why though...

"Is 11 really that bad?" She asks.

I nod in response. "It isn't anything to be taken lightly with. Free will is just a joke in 11. To my mother anyways." I admit.

She licks her lips. "What's your mother like?" She asks.

I look up to the sky. "She was like the brightest star in the sky. Nothing could shine better than her. She was responsible and kind." I say.

Monica looks down at me. "You know, I thought people in 11 were uneducated? You're making poetry." She tells me.

I chuckle. "We had a small school." I tell her.

I cringe at that line though. Monica quickly takes note. "Hm. You seem uncomfortable? Is there something up with it?" She asks.

I want to say something and I begin to open my mouth to explain but I hear a certain ringing sound. I look up and we notice a silver box with a parachute attached floating down towards us. "IT'S A SPONSER ITEM!" I shout, nearly getting to my feet.

However, I quickly collapse remembering my new handicap.

Monica jumps up and grabs the item. She looks inside the box. "It's a first aid kit." She exclaims in excitement, looking up the sky and shouting thank you. She also ends up waking up Byke.

"Huh? Wha!?" Byke questions.

Monica quickly rushes over to Byke. "I need you to try on this healing ointment." She takes off Bykes jacket and outer shirt in order to put the ointment on her shoulder.

Byke cringes as she rubs it. Monica follows this up by pulling out a bandage and rolling it around Bykes shoulder. She quickly rushes over to Troy who's probably asleep. She puts the healing ointment on Troy as well before rolling a bandage around his waist.

She then rushes over to me. "Alright, this might hurt a bit." She puts the ointment on my leg. For a second, it burns. I cringe.

However, she quickly wraps a bandage around my leg. "All done." She cheers.

I give a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Somebody wanted to sponsor us." I breathe.

I look back over at Troy. He's still breathing. Quietly too. Byke Begins to move towards us. "Thanks." She cries.

"I guess we aren't in this alone after all." Monica smiles.

"I guess... I can sleep happily knowing we all won't be dying soon." I laugh.

By this point, the sun has completely gone down and everything has gone quiet. Everything but the buzz of fireflies, the chirps of crickets, the crock of frogs and an owl. It feels sothing. The fact that we almost died earlier is completely forgotten.

Byke and Troy slowly drift back to sleep while Monica struggles not too. While I'd be fine with them dozing off, I'm still worried about something. First off is the idea that the two arenas will converge. More waves of tributes to deal with. Also the-,

I jolt when the anthem suddenly begins playing. Monica, Byke and Troy all wake up at once and observe the sky.

The first face shown to be lit in the sky is that of the District 1 Female. Her face shows confidence. I actually feel quite bad now. While the careers are unanimously the worse type of people in the arena, they fell so quickly. Then again, there are more on the way...

The next face we see is the District 2 Male.

"The careers... They're all gone..." Byke says, quietly.

A smile forms on her face. It's actually kind of hard to smile at this. For me anyways. I look over to Monica. "Who could've done this..." She ponders.

I think for a moment as the anthem begins to wrap up. "10 and 11." I remind her.

Monica nods. "If they're that good... Well I don't want to be anywhere near them." She lays back down, looking up at the stars.

I laugh. "That's what I've been saying the past 3 days." I admit.

Monica jumps up. "Three days? I just remembered. We've only been in the arena for 3 days!" She shouts.

I nod. "Yeah. At this rate it seems we're just going to be stuck in here forever... and ever." I sigh, putting my knees to my chest.

Slowly but shortly, I can sense dread and worry in Monica. While she's up for protecting us when the time comes, she can't help but become less heroic in the face of death. Then again, the past few games have been short with little fear in getting taken out due to the Gamemakers desire to keep the games running.

We've been targeted by the gamemakers multiple times now and it's confusing. We don't know if they want us to split up or they just want us dead.

 _The wanting us dead part sounds more realistic obviously..._

Monica looks up to the stars. They're obviously apart of the artificial dome the surrounds the arena. However, it almost feels like home. Sitting around a lake with... I guess I can say they're my friends. But yeah, it's so... serene. _Too serene considering the circumstances honestly..._

* * *

 **Time Passes**

* * *

I'm jolted awake. Though nothing in particular awakens me. Just me overarching fear of death in my sleep. I wasn't even prepared to sleep because my mind just drifted off and well... now I'm awake. Byke is still laying on a tree. However, I notice something next to her. For a second, I jump. I examine a little and closer and find out it just happens to be Troy sleeping near her.

 _Meh..._

I begin to stand up and look around. Monica is still sleeping by the lake. However, her face is set in a look that just says she's unsettled. I sit back next to her.

I begin to remember all the things we'd went over before we both drifted off to sleep. How pained she was to have to fight for her little sister. How pained she was to have killed someone from her own District. It all seems too much...

As I sit down, I give a yawn. It's probably around the 11 PM pr 12 area of time. I can't really tell. Though if the chill in the air is any indication, it's probably morning already. The sky is almost completely lit with stars.

I remember back in 11, me, momma and dad would sometimes sit around and point at constellations in the sky. The world seems so big. Bigger than even us in Panem. I've heard that the people in Panem are the few that remain. There used to be much more world...

I wish I could run as fast as I could and find these lands. Though it sounds unlikely. I'd have a better time trying to touch the stars myself.

 _Maybe I'd be free that way..._

I jolt once more. I hear a sound. Not any regular sound though. A kind of shuffling one... Like feet moving through the grass. I quickly look behind myself. I start breathing heavily. _I can't be imagining this one. Somebody is possibly here._

I begin to get to my knees, listening for sound. I begin to grab my backpack and pull out a knife. _If someones there... I'm going to die. I don't want to rat out my friends though. They may not know they're there... worth a shot. Right?_

Okay, maybe they do know that they're slumbering right behind me but screaming could give them the alarm. I hold out my knife right in front of me.

 _Where did it come from? Who did it come from?_

Suddenly though, I begin to hear snickering. The sound of quiet laughter. Almost like young children pulling a joke... My heart begins to beat a an even faster rate. I swallow my saliva.

"Oh look who we found... Still looking for your mommy?" A voice rings. The voice is deep and it brings chills to my skin. I know who it is. They're here... and they know I am too.

 _And they're going to kill me..._

* * *

 **Remaining Tributes**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Male**

 **District 6 Female (Byke)**

 **District 6 Male (Troy)  
**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 10 Female**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 12 Female**

* * *

 _Uh... Sorry it took this chapter a while to get out. I wanted to make the chapter long which in this case, kind of actually worked in my favor and I was making hard progress until I picked up Splatoon 2..._

 _Anyways, first things first is that Altar got his first tribute kill... even though it's unclear where they came from. Also, the careers are dead. Magnificent? Also, our mains nearly died... again. Well, let's just say a lot happened but then again, the word count for the story is 6K words. Originally I meant for it to be 10K but all the events ended up happening in only 6,000 words... hm._

 _You know, I really need to get to re-writing those earlier chapters because I feel like I left open a million plot holes just trying to reach this segment of the games... Ah well.  
Also the arena... seems quite tame. I guess I didn't give myself enough time to develop it. Meh, this story seems kind of rushed overall._

 ** _Icytopia -_ You'd think the main characters would know this but apparently not. Then again, they were trapped in an enclosed space that could possibly fill up and drown Monica so... oh well. **


	14. Falling Down (Early Day 4)

I jump away. Filled with both shock and growing fear at our situation. I recognize these voices...

 _Ceres._ She stands in front of me. An axe in hand. Even in the dark, I can tell it's covered in blood. My mouth goes completely dry. "Y-You again..." I say.

She smirks. "Who else? I'm definitely not your older brother." She laughs.

I grit my teeth. I'm tempted to rush off but there's a major chance that she's faster than me. She'll just take me out like cattle. _Maybe I can jump into the lake and swim away. Actually no, I can't swim..._

I turn back to my friends... _Selling out my friends is not an option... But I can't play weak the whole time..._

 _Try stabbing her to death? But she has an axe still..._

No matter what scenario I create, every single idea I come up with will most likely end up in my immediate death. I can't risk that right now...

This isn't the first time I've been completely afraid during these games... but this is the first time I know in my heart that I'm not coming out of this alive. I'm about to cry in fact. _Why does it have to be this way? I-, I don't want this to end..._

However, Ceres continues to stare at me with the most sadistic of grins. "Why don't you wake up your little friends." She points behind me with her axe.

My eyes widen in horror. _She knows!? Oh no! Oh no!_

I first try to play it off. "What friends? Their all gone? Dead. I'm by myself now." I say, lying as if I'm without an alliance.

Ceres begins to chuckle. Only after a few seconds she begins to laugh harder and harder. "Boy. I can see them behind you. Boy and girl from 6. Girl from 4. Wake. Them." She demands, putting on a more serious face.

I stand back. "There's 4 of us. 1 of you. Untrained or not, there's no chance in hell of you surviving this!" I glare at her.

"Well how about I kill you first now. Just to take out the competition." She begins, pointer her axe at my chest.

I gulp, taking another step back.

She laughs again. "I thought so." She plays around with her axe.

"But still." I remind her.

She laughs. "You truly are a fool, boy." She says. Suddenly, another girl walks up from behind her. _The girl from 10. Right..._

"How about 2 on 4. Sounds a lot more thrilling does it?" She taunts. I grit my teeth.

I look back to my alliance. Byke, Troy Monica. All sleeping in their own worlds. They must feel safe there. We _should_ be safe right now...

I move to Monica, shaking her. She begins to open her eyes. Our eyes meet, the dread on my face only reflecting. "What?" She asks, exhausted.

"W-We..." I begin, struggling to get the words out of my mouth.

"Wake up! We know you're all sleeping!" The girl from 10 announces.

Monica quickly jolts upwards, gripping her spear. Byke and Troy also wake up. Though they seem in and out, still dazed.

Monica opens her mouth to say something. However, her voice is quiet. As if it was a dream.

Ceres quietly laughs, spinning her axe. "You're lucky we're giving you a chance to fight back. Well, then again, You kids know you can't win anyways." She sighs.

I pick up my backpack, slowly pulling out a packet of throwing knives.

My face slowly dissolves to small tears. _Does it really have to be like this? Even with the people surrounding me... They can't protect me. I can't even return to their help..._

Troy and Byke begin to stand back as me and Monica pull out our weapons. "R-Run." I whisper to them.

Byke and Troy hesitate for a moment, not sure if they really should abandon us. However, Byke nods and rushes off with Troy following right behind her. However, before they can get even a few inches... the girl from 10 begins to run over at them with her axe. The two stand back, horrified.

"Bell. Wait." Ceres says to the girl from 10.

The girl from 10 turns around, giving an annoyed look to Ceres.. "Wha-, why? They're not that big of a deal. Taking them out right now would be better. Especially since the 4 girl has a spear." She reminds Ceres.

Troy gets in front of Byke. "I won't let you harm my friends. You're going to have to get through me first!" He shouts.

The 10 girl [Bell] Shrugs, walking over to the boy. He steps back, starting to regret this. She gives him a sadistic smirk before spinning her axe. "Fine. I'll play by your rules." She sighs.

In an instant, Troy is on the ground. An axe in his neck. Surrounded by his blood... And his eyes are chilling black... _Dead..._

My mind can barely register it at all.

Byke is horrified. "T-TROY!" She shouts his name.

Everything is happening too fast for my mind to eve understand the fact that Troy... Troy... Is gone...

I'm still staring at the body. The axe is still in his throat. He's still on the ground.

 **"BOOM!"**

And a canon fires. "TROY!" Byke rushes over to his body, weeping over his corpse.

Bell [The 10 girl] Begins to pull the axe from his corpse. She looks down on Byke who looks up. Red tears clear in her eyes. Oliva turns back to Ceres, giving a shrug and a smug smile.

Ceres sighs. "I wanted to wait. Brilliant. Now the boys dead. Well, then again I was keen on wiping them out slowly." She admits.

"Now we're talking." Bell laughs.

"A-Altar... I think I'll take down down both of them at once. You and Byke try and run. I'll... I'll hold them off." Monica whispers to me.

I shake my head. "That isn't going to work." I argue.

Monica starts to look around. "Well either you try using a 99% chance of getting away or you just waste your damn life. I won't allow that." She argues.

I take a deep breath. Ceres snickers. "Do you three really think there's a way to escape? Because there really isn't anyway you'll live tonight."

In literally no time, Monica flies at Ceres. Ceres however, manages to avoid Monica's spear and pushes her back with a kick to the stomach. Monica nearly falls to the ground but she manages to recover. Bell charges at me. I grab my bag and begin fleeing.

"You're not getting away!" She shouts at me.

I'm clearly going to be unable to outrun her. However...

I turn around and roll out a knife, throwing it at her head. However, it misses completely. "You've got to be kidding me!" I shout.

Bell laughs. "You're only going to tire yourself out. I'm just going to give you some time to recognize that." She tells me as I continue running from her.

 _She's right. Maybe I can score a hit though. Just gotta concentrate..._

I turn around and throw my next knife. This time though, it grazes her side. She stumbles, giving me some time to escape. I enter the woods, now surrounded by darkness. I stop for a moment, catching my breath and feeling safer now.

I begin looking around. "I wonder. S-Should I head back in the direction of my alliance or should I-," I begin to plan.

"I'm still following you!" The girl shouts.

I'm panicking. _Which direction? Which god damn direction!?_

I take a sharp turn to my right hoping that this is the direction away the lake.

However, before I can do anything. **"WHAM!"** I run straight into something. It only takes a millisecond for me to recognize that I just ran straight into my killer.

"You're dead!" She yells in my ear.

I quickly get up, picking up my bag and ready to stab her with my knife. _Only to realize it isn't in my hand. It's on the ground somewhere around me..._

That's the moment I chose to book it. I'm barely jumping over bushes by the time she's already up, armed with her axe and still chasing me. _This gives me bloodbath flashbacks..._

As I continue rushing through the woods, I'm reminded that Monica and Byke are still in the middle of battling Ceres. _Will they manage to survive? 2 on 1. God knows... Maybe?_

I look behind myself. No sign of the girl in the darkness. _No doubt she's still behind me though._ I keep running. Only the more I run reminds me how little I've eaten. I'm losing stamina quickly and I'm already breathing heavily.

I eventually find myself on the other side of the lake. I stop dead in my tracks though. I find her. She isn't behind me like I thought... but Bell seemingly went back to the other side of the lake to finish the job...

Bell and Ceres are currently fighting both fighting Monica and Byke. Somehow though, Monica is putting up a pretty good fight. Byke however is getting kicked around like a ragdoll, screaming each time she's hurt. Crying...

I can tell I'm crying too. My eyes are watering. My eyes tingle. I'm scared...

"No... Please..." I say to myself. Praying to whatever is out their that the two won't fall... Please...

All at once, Byke begins to dash off like I did. However, this time Bell quickly stops her, jumping right in front of the smaller girl. Bell quickly kicks her down like a door. Byke falls to the ground, screaming out in pain before Bell puts her foot on Bykes back before laughing.

She says something to her before lifting the axe. Before Monica can even react... Before I can scream her name... The axe has already found a place in her neck.

 **"BOOM!"**

"BYKE!" I shout her name, my eyes filling with tears as I fall to my knees, starting to sob.

Monica and the rest stop and notice me across the lake. Bell begins rushing around the lake, running after me in order to take my life next.

"ALTAR! JUST GET OUT OF HER! FORGET ABOUT ME!" She shouts.

I'm barely able to bring myself to do that but I quickly jump and rush off in the opposite direction, fleeing from our attackers. I'm almost too stunned to try and process everything. However, my mind is still repeating the same words. _Monica. Please... Please don't die out there..._

My head is spinning with confusion as I continue running through the woods, secluded in darkness. I'm almost certain that the District 10 girl is still chasing me but I'm almost certainly not going back to see.

However, after almost 30 minutes of running and jogging and then walking... I finally stop. I look around.

"I think I lost her..." I say to myself.

After a few minutes of nothing, I sit down. I'm no longer in the woods. Instead, I'm in another meadow. I'm in the wide open but from the looks of it, nobody is around.

I sit down, looking up into the sky. My eyes fill with tears before I suddenly begin crying. I become an emotional wreck, crying for minutes at a time.

"They're all gone... Byke... Troy... Monica might be next?" I say to myself.

During the almost 30 minutes I spent running away, there wasn't another canon. Monica is currently somehow still alive...

I sigh, looking back up at the sky. I rub my eyes before laying my head down. "I-I couldn't protect them..." I say to myself.

I repeat that, questioning myself. _Why? Why did it have to be this way?_ After a long period of time though, I just shake my head and lay my head against my backpack.

 _I should just rest myself right now. I'm so exhausted that I don't even know how to properly react to any of this._ My heart is still pounding and I'm still taking giant gulps of air after all that running and being afraid earlier.

I'm still in shock as well. My thoughts are split. I'm afraid that the two will come charging in my direction in literally no time flat and end my life right here. However, I hear no trace of them as I lay across the ground.

 _They're both gone..._

 _Byke... and Troy... They both seemed annoying in their own little ways... but they were so special in their own ways..._

"And I just let them die like that." I say to myself as I breathe out. My heart is still pounding. My voice is scratchy, almost quiet.

The wind picks up. "It should have been me... They didn't deserve any of that." I say to myself.

I look up at the stars, they slowly start to become blurry as my eyes start to fill with tears again. "I could've been there for them... And I just gave up on them and let them die." I cry to myself.

After what feels like hours of me crying to myself, I run out of tears. I lay back down of the ground, my voice going silent. I don't have anyone to protect me anymore. Monica is off somewhere. I don't even know if she's dead or alive but she's most likely dead.

My brother... is somewhere. Just not here. He's dead or going to be soon. _And I'll be next soon..._

Only 4 days in and the gamemakers have already beaten me. They've broken me. The ever growing fear of death builds within me. After a long while, I feel like I'm about to drift off to sleep though...

* * *

I remember grandfather. He was pretty old, especially for someone from our District where it seemed rare for someone to even make it into their 40s. He worked pretty hard and it always seemed like he never broke a sweat. He seemed tough. Hard as nails. However, not even nails could break the smile he shined us when we saw him.

He was there for our family. Ready to defend us and ready to assist us. He loved me and my brother dearly. He told us stories at night while mom and dad were working. He watched us play in the snow and he made us hot chocolate. Of course, he's not around anymore as he died of exhaustion years ago.

We got a small loan from 11 to compensate for his death. Though that money was meant so we could have some more food... my mother made sure it'd go towards a school so I could go there. I never understood that, however momma told me it was what he wanted.

The school was different than the fields. It was cleaner [Barely, but that's just being picky]. The people were nicer. I went there for about a few years when the events of the 96th Hunger Games took place.

The ending was shocking, a form of rebellion and a slap to the face of the Capitol. And it happened on a nationwide scale...

And then the day after, the teacher dropped knives on our desks and told us to throw them at the wall... and we practiced... and practiced... and never stopped throwing them at the wall. There were times where they constantly reminded us of what would happen if we didn't break down the Capitol.

This thought of failure, and the deaths of everyone we knew and cared about what one repeat. Beaten into our heads like nails. There were some days where we did learn but most of the time, it were these tests that we did.

I never understood what the teacher was trying to get from this. What could she gain from emotionally scarring children and teaching them how to fend for themselves like savages?

I always grew up thinking that maybe she was trying to build an army to we could fight. Stupid idea though. We'd all be gunned down, children or not. She was a teacher, she wasn't stupid though.

As the 98th and 99th Hunger Games passed though, I came up with a scenario that maybe she was aiming at getting us to volunteer for the Hunger Games when we got older. The thought horrified me. Training children? To volunteer for the games? Only the best Districts did that. Districts 1, 2 and 4...

However, before the 100th Games I'd heard some speculation that even District 5 and 9 had done something like that. Nobody really believes it is true because we'd know... Though to be fair, 5 and 9 were in an alliance in the 99th Games as well and were shaping up to be that way in the ones before.

Were we also supposed to be like them? Trained killers? Supposed to fight and die for something that can't be changed. It can't... Troy and Byke are gone... forever. All the people that died in the other games are gone... If it's been this way for a hundred years than what'll change in the next hundred years?

* * *

I suddenly wake up. I'm sweating a little while all my memories come back to me. I look up at the sky, it's grey but it's still bright. I take a deep breath. "They're gone... Both of them..." I say.

For the first time, I feel true guilt and sadness. My dads death was horrifying as a child, I'll admit. I cried a little. Those two though... They were there for me. They were there for each other. They fought for each other. They didn't deserve to be in the games nor did they deserve to die.

Maybe... Maybe in a way I deserve to die...

The immoral 12 year old from a poor District. I should've died day 1...

However, I shake my head and stand up.

I want to open my mouth and talk more... but I pick up my bag and begin walking off into the distance, the unknown up ahead... all by myself...

* * *

 _School has begun again but thankfully we aren't at a point where things are too hectic for me so I'll have enough time to write. I got a computer from the school that I can take home (Which I've been using since I started writing but I was lucky to hold onto another computer for the summer) so it'll make things a little easier for me but school might be a lot tougher than it was last year, first year of High School after all._

 _Anyways. This chapter was kind of interesting as we see the first death of major characters. Sad :(_

 _Byke - I kind of liked her. A lot of my female characters felt the same, being a lot tougher and cold on the inside. She kind of had a more sarcastic and oblivious personality to contrast our main._

 _Troy - He was originally just me throwing in the towl but I grew to think of him as another alternative to Altar. Gonna miss him._

* * *

 **Icytopia** \- Yes, that's actually what happened. However, these were the only ones who managed to cross arenas at that moment. Others will come in later.


	15. Don't Look Back (Day 4)

My feet carry my across the murky swamp. A large, cold mist hovers above the darkness of the swamp. There isn't much light coming down, obviously due to the grey clouds. It's just like my inner thoughts, they've been clouded with both fear and sadness.

I've been trying to move my thoughts from Byke and Troy, my allies...

I feel anxious being alone here. I can tell that nobody is around but it's still kind of scary. I take a deep breath and begin jogging. I'm rapidly checking my surroundings. No mutts. No tributes. Just me currently.

I start humming an old folks song from 11. My head's still a little exhausted from just waking up and all but I try and relax myself. I grip my backpack as time begins to pass with each step I take.

I'm feeling a little calmer now in comparison to how I was before but the feeling of disappointment and guilt still remains. I take some deep breaths. They make me much calmer.

Suddenly though, I see something white falling from the sky. It takes me a few moments to recognize this as snow. I grin a little. It's comforting...

However, my grin reverts back to a blank stare into space as I begin walking once more. I'm familiar with the 99th Hunger Games enough to remember that its arena was complete snow and complete hell at the same time.

However, the snow still feels comforting in a way...

I continue trecking through the swamp. Though it slowly begins to open up into a giant, grey and green grassy plains. I feel chills all over my body as I enter this area. I'm not sure if it's because of the snow or because of what I'm heading into...

I swallow my saliva as I step through the snow. Somehow, the sky seems dimmed as I walk here. I feel awfully afraid again. Almost like something is surrounding me... waiting... waiting to pounce all at once.

I search around myself. The swamp surrounding me seems quiet and ahead of me is the beginning of an ever growing hilly area. I think I'm close to where I hid in the tree when the games begin.

My heart sinks a little when I remind myself of my first and really awkward encounter with Byke. However, I shake my head, reminding myself that I shouldn't think too hard on the topic anymore. I sigh, walking forward when I suddenly notice a small building in the center of the place. It almost looks like a shack... something resembling home in a way...

I lose my breath for a split second but I take a deep breath and take a closer look. I look forward... it seems to be a shack. I begin to take a few rushed steps forward before I begin bursting into a full on sprint, charging directly at the little building.

I have no idea why I'm running towards it. For some reason, I want to see it. I eventually reach the building, surprised that it's a little bigger than expected but it isn't too large at all. There are two barged up windows and a door that seems to be cracked open. It seems to be dark inside but I don't hear any sounds.

 _There probably isn't a tribute in here..._

It takes me a few moments but I begin to open the door.

 _"CREEEEK"_

The door makes a loud squealing sound that is probably loud enough to be heard across the entire district. _Though that's probably just me worrying though..._

I quickly spring into the room, panicked. I search around, frantically. _No tributes... I'm lucky..._

I quickly but quietly shut the door, giving a large sigh of relief. The room isn't lit up but I notice a small candle sitting up on a desk. I tip toe over towards the desk, pondering about what could be inside it. I move over to it and begin opening it up. The top drawer... has nothing.

I give a disappointed sigh. Hopefully the bottom drawer has something useful. As I open it up, it makes a loud squealing sound. I cringe. _I'm pretty sure that woke up a few tributes._

I quickly take a look inside and notice a small leather bag. I quickly take it out and look at it. I rummage right through it to discover a small bottle. I discover that this thing actually has water in it. Quickly, I begin gorge down as much of the water as I can without running through all of it.

I swiftly lick my lips before taking another breath. "Thank god..." I say, looking around.

I feel a little embarrassed over that display of desperation. I check the bag once more. I find a flashlight... not like I need to use one.

I also find a bag of nuts and I stuff that into my jacket pockets. This is a huge treat that I'm surprised nobody has found yet. I crack open the door and look outside after a few moments. I can barely see through the growing white out by apparently nobody is out there. I look at the room one last time before heading out. As I step out, I'm surprised that the snow has reached a higher level already.

However, that gives me a horrific thought. _What if the snow is going to slowly pile up. Is a blizzard or something coming._

Back in our village of District 11, blizzards were both hated and loved. The allowed time off from the plantations which was great in me and Alma's case. However the problematic thing was easily the cold. Many people I knew would die from cold. We usually didn't have enough blankets for everyone so we'd freeze. It's most definitely going to be horrid here, in this arena.

I hope the jackets are heated enough so I don't die of cold. The Hunger Games of last year was probably the same as the tributes weren't dying of cold in the arena. Compare that to one of the other games where it was just cold and all the tributes just slowly died. Meanwhile, I'm beginning to fret over where I should head next. I sigh.

I'm already climbing on the hills when I begin thinking about the layout of the arena.

I can't even say what type of arena this is. I've been through the forest and the swamp but from the hills I'm climbing on, I'm starting to see more places. As I finish climbing, I notice a volcano in the far distance. Though it seems to be dormant as of now.

From the looks of it, below the volcano seems to be... a desert? I can't really tell. Honestly I'm just surprised I hadn't noticed this before. Maybe with all the tall trees it might have been a struggle to tell.

I lay my head against a tree that stands next to me. I'm quite exhausted but I don't feel like anything it going after me right now. I haven't seen any tributes in a while and even if you forget my alliance and Ceres and her friend...

Uh, well I haven't seen any other tributes in a long while.

I begin to question the amount of tributes left. All the careers have been wiped out so now 1 or 2. 3 has also been taken out if I recall correctly and the District 4 male was killed by Monica...

I go quiet for a few seconds before I try to take a few more seconds to remember. After District 6... *Sigh*... We have both of 8 and 7. Those that remain are the District 9 and 5 males, Ceres and Bella from 11 and 10 and the District 12 female.

I sit by the tree, lamenting literally everything that has happened. My stomach makes a growling noise, one that's all too familiar...

I pull out some of the nuts I found in the cabin and eat a few. It solves the problem for now. I stand up on a branch. The snowfall continues... and it's falling at a faster pace now...

I really hope the snow isn't going to build up really hard, at least at this moment because I am not ready for a blizzard. I look around.

I still don't see any tributes. I'm honestly very glad that I'm high up because being low, people could see me pretty well. I'd be like the Victor of the 11th Games. She took advantage of the elevation of the arena. She was from District 4 but I can't remember the name...

Whatever. I sit down on a branch and lay my head back. I'd love to continue lamenting how it seems so peaceful up here compared to the rest of the arena but as the snow starts turning into a snow storm... which in turn will turn into a god damn raging snow storm which I ain't looking forward to, I feel at unease.

Eventually, I slowly start drifting off. Even if I don't want to, my eyes begin to close and soon enough. Soon enough, I'm out of it...

* * *

Until a while later where I suddenly wake up. This is the 2nd time this has suddenly happened to me. I frantically look around before I look below myself. For a second, I think I see a tribute.

 _How long have I been out?_

I look up in the sky. I look back down at the ground. It looks like someone from the looks of it. Somebody walking through the snow in a panicked rush. My head is starting to see things clearly again, and I don't think that's a mutt...

With further investigation, I can make the assumption that this is a tribute. Their walk is pretty weird though. Almost as if they were drunk. They're probably struggling to get through the snow.

In a few seconds, they lay their head against a tree near me. From up here, I can barely make out this figure. If only it wasn't snowing, I could tell who it was without much problem. I glance down one more time. They're jacket is a lot darker than the rest. 10? No, most likely no. Probably 12 or 9...

The tribute looks up. Their hoodie is covering most of their head as they do. I can't tell if they see me or not but I think they're crying.

"FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY! KILL ME ALREADY! I'M ALREADY NOTHING TO 12! WHY SHOULD I BE ANYTHING TO YOU!" The tribute shouts.

 _District 12 Female? Matter of fact, who's she yelling at? Me? The gamemakers?_

She sounds very emotional right now. I'm almost tempted to jump down and go comfort her but reminder: Hunger Games.

That suddenly makes me cringe. It reminds me of when I met Monica. She... She really wanted to protect us. However, I shake my head. No more alliances. There are still people I definitely should not trust in the arena and until I... die, I'm staying with my instincts.

I take a deep breath as the girl below begins to cry harder. For some reason I wish the blizzard would pick up so it can drown out her tears.

 _Why is she upset though? I kind of want to know..._

I sit by myself in silence for a few more minutes, watching as the heavy snow comes down and the girl from 12 cries. I'm cold. Very cold... And getting colder...

I can feel tears slowly coming out. I miss my brother. He was always there to protect me. _I hope he's alive... He deserves to win more than I do._

"What chances do I have anyway? I need luck but then again, luck isn't something to rely on. Ever." I say to myself.

I sigh, looking back down. The girl has stopped crying and is now just sitting down with her head to her knees. I take another deep breath.

"I should stop feeling bad for myself." I remind myself.

I look to the right of myself and see the moon floating above the clouds. I can see it from here.

"At least the gamemakers have the same idea of beauty as I do..." I say as I look at the moon. I almost smile.

 **"CRASH!"**

When suddenly I'm knocked out of my thoughts by a sudden lighting strike hitting not too far off, striking a tree a few feet away. I'm in complete shock and it takes a second for me to actually question what's going. "Oh great. Now they actually want me dead." The girl shouts, getting up and beginning to head out.

I take a deep breath.

 _Oh goodness! Are they aiming for me or her? Both of us? They can kill me since I'm high up in this tree._ I grit my teeth before proceeding to scale down tree without falling down. I'm not too high up but I'm just being cautious.

 **"CRASH!"** I hear another lighting strike hit the ground.

I quickly lose my grip on the tree where I fall right into the snow. Thankfully it breaks my fall. I'm just getting out of the snow when I notice a tree falling right towards me.

With literally no time, I close my eyes expecting it to just end there. However, it only lands right next to me. _Lucky me._

I quickly get to my feet and pick up my bag. I look around before heading north. _Not like anythings up here I'm just praying that theirs something other than trees in this direction._

Another strike of lighting hits a tree nearby. Stray pieces of tree go flying everywhere. One cuts me in the arm. I look down and thankfully I'm not bleeding yet. I look up, more lighting forming in the sky.

I pick up my feet and begin running away as quickly as I can. My blood is pumping. My heart is pounding. I'm absolutely horrified and scared. _Getting struck by lighting sounds painful... But artificially created lighting sounds like death!_

Even as I run away as quickly as I can, I know I can't outrun a storm. I'm just going to have to get lucky. I'm beginning to hyperventilate when lighting suddenly strikes right in front of me. A few seconds later a tree begins to collapse right in front of me. I jump out of the way in time. I don't even have time to calm myself down because next thing you know another tree is falling at me.

I sprint to my left as lighting pounds the dirt, causing animals to scatter in many different directions. The still ongoing blizzard is making it hard to keep track of where I'm going. I don't even clearly know where I'm heading as I slowly but shortly tire myself out. Within a few seconds, I stop, gasping and panting for air.

At this moment I'm almost ready to be killed. However, I slowly walk away as if nothing is happening around me. I'm limping a little but I'm holding through when suddenly-,

 **"CRASH!"**

The sound of a lighting bolt echos across my brain. My mind goes blank. I'm knocked into the air where I do god knows how many flips before landing on my back... and then I passed out...

* * *

 **Remaining Tributes**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Male**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 10 Female**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)  
**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 12 Female**

* * *

 _Yay. Another chapter has been complete. This one was supposed to be longer but since there wasn't much action I didn't have much to write. Thanks for reading._

 **YASQUEEN -** I'm glad you enjoy this story. It's great knowing people still read this.


	16. Lost, Broken and Scarred (Night 4)

My eyes slowly begin opening. They clearly don't want to as I find myself wanting to go back to sleep. The world seems to be spinning when my eyes open. Snow is surrounding and covering me as I begin to get up.

I groan. "Wh-What happened?" I say, my body feeling cold and numb. My head feeling the worse out of the bunch.

Surprisingly, I'm a little slow recollecting the events of whatever day I got knocked out. The area around me seems to have been leveled by somethi-,

"Oh right! There was a thunder storm!" I say, reminded of what had happened.

The events ended up nearly getting me killed and I'm really lucky to even be alive at the moment. I stand up and look around. The sky is grey... a far cry from the other day where the arena was bright and blue as ever.

 _Still reminds me of 11 though so that's a thing._ I begin to get to my feet, feeling a little light headed but otherwise kind of fine. I grin.

"And I thought I couldn't depend on luck huh... Ah well." I say, beginning to walk away.

I step through the snow which has only seemed to get worse over the day. My attitude is less than upbeat about what's been going on. _Why don't they just kill me already. Drop a bridge on me or something. Obviously the gamemakers are just toying with my emotions... *Sigh*_

I've been feeling so lonely since I've had to abandon Monica and the alliance. I managed to slowly get over the feeling of dread and failure... But I won't be able to forget it. The traumatizing moment where Troy stood up for Byke only to be killed instantly. Byke fleeing before being suddenly killed. It's all too real for me to take at once.

Maybe as time goes by I'll be able to get past it? Probably not... Not in the time I have left at least. That makes me think for a moment. Why am I still alive? I guess since I'm the youngest tribute the Capitol kind of wants the cute one to stay around until a shocking moment ends in its death. Well they're doing a poor job because the 12 year old is now emotionally scared. _Good job..._

I giggle before shaking my head. _I should think about something else to pass the time. Which direction should I head in?_

I look around. There are some mountains in the northern direction and I can't see elsewhere. If I recall correctly, the swamp was the south... The cornucopia is east and... I think the ocean is west...

I begin trotting north, no goal in mind. The chill of the snow is causing me to shake badly and I feel my hands starting to numb. It gets my mind off of the emotional pain building up but... _Hooray I guess?_

* * *

By the time I exit the forest, I find myself in a surprisingly new-ish area. I don't recall seeing it before. It's a flat, plain area. The grass is frozen and almost blue. I'm a little baffled just looking at it.

I don't see any mutts or tributes surrounding me which I'm thankful for. That actually reminds me. I was trying to keep track of the remaining tributes. If I'm correct I'm in the top 7. Lot better than I honestly thought I'd do. My heart begins to warm. It kind of comforts me. As I begin walking forward though I feel numb again remembering another fact.

 _There's still the other arena... The tributes here and there will all converge. It's annoying honestly._ If I haven't noticed any tributes I hadn't seen in here though... There's a possibility that they're not even at the bottom 14.

I sigh, my breath taking a cold misty form in the chilling air. I wish Byke was still around since our sponsorship was connected. Being dead, I can't receive any gifts. Basically we were life linked. _It's disappointing..._

My brother was connected to the District 8 Male. He lost his sponsorship privileges _early_ into the games... Maybe there's a possibility that he isn't okay. I close my eyes, hoping... praying... that just like me, he has a chance of survival.

I haven't seen a Hunger Games where the winner didn't have the sponsors. Hell, even the careers who usually already have EVERYTHING in stock need them. To be fair the 98th was an exception but I don't even want to count that (One, nobody actually had time since the games were awfully short that year AND nobody dared sponsor the District 8 boy after he broke the rules and managed to kill 16 tributes before the games even began).

 **"Greetings remaining tributes of the 100th Annual Hunger Games." The announcer comes onto the intercom.**

For a second, I jump. Considering they only have announcements when there's a feast or something like that but otherwise there isn't really a chance that we'll hear anything like this.

 **"We congratulate you all for reaching this point in the games. Staring today however, we'd like you to know that the arena divides between both arenas has been lifted finally. Though previously small pockets had been opened, starting today they are completely lifted meaning that the remaining tributes will be able to converge soon. Happy Hunger Games, we'll see you to the end."**

For a few seconds, I'm left dumbfounded. The arenas will finally converge? Well first off that means more tributes. I better be careful. There isn't telling how many tributes are in the other arena, at least right now. _Hopefully Alma is one of them..._

* * *

 _ **Far Later...**_

* * *

I remain silent as I sprawl across the grass in the great plain-ish part of the arena. I haven't bothered leaving in the hour or so I've been here. I'm anticipating the moment when it becomes day so it'll become easier to get out of here. However, the snow might make the trial a bit harder the necessary. As I ponder on about what I should do next... Suddenly the anthem comes on.

I jump, not expecting it at all. I could have sworn it was the morning of the 5th day. I give a great sigh of disappointment.

There are only two faces up right now. Byke and Troy.

I feel myself becoming emotional again. I quickly take a deep breath and think for a moment.

I don't even really know what to say about either of them. Byke was idiotic half of the time... but she wasn't awful. If we had the chance, I even would've considered her a great friend. She was so innocent... She didn't deserve her death.

While I thought Troy was kind of annoying, he was just like Byke. Innocent and had heart. He would honestly be me in a world where I didn't live in District 11.

I'm suddenly think about Byke and Troys families. I cannot imagine the pain their families are going through as their childrens bodies are sent back in coffins. _And I was supposed to protect them..._ Actually no. I only alligned myself with Byke because I wanted to make sure she didn't randomly die and thus, causing me to lose the ability to get sponsor gifts. The fact that they were so innocent though caused me to think of it differently though as if... as if me and Monica were there for the sole purpose of watching over them.

I look back up to the sky, raising my first three fingers before promptly kissing my pointer, middle and index fingers at once, holding them to their images. District 12's three finger salute.

"Thank you." I mouth, feeling myself tear up a little on the inside.

Just some context, the salute I did was something the District 12 victor did following the death of our Aunt, Rue. Apparently, it's a sign of goodbye in the District 12. Momma told me to respect the fallen by saluting them with this.

"I wish you were still here..." I admit, turning around.

I lay back down, looking up at the dark clouds. "Momma... I'm sorry but I may not be coming back." I say, not to anything in particular but I hope a camera picked that up. Hopefully it'll be seen as a tearjerker of sorts and maybe I can earn the audiences sympathy.

 _Not like that'll do me any good right now..._

Whatever. I hold in laughter from how stupid I just sounded and rest a little. _Heh. Nobody's going to buy that. I'm not even a good actor._ I sprawl across the grass, feeling out of it before I close my eyes to rest...

* * *

However, I suddenly wake up to the sound of movement. I get up quickly, looking around. It's at this moment that I quickly grab the bag of knives from my backpack. I rummage about, looking for any traces of tributes. At this moment, I'm actually glad that the blizzard stopped. Though it's VERY dark. Not even a star in the sky...

I continue searching looking high and low for the place the movement must be coming from.

 _Something has to be around here._

However, after a long while... I give up. "Okay. Maybe I was wrong. Nothings here." I take a breath of relief.

Before I can do anything else though, I hear a loud whaling sound. A cry of agony if I must. _And I stand corrected!_ _Is it a nearby tribute?! A mutt?! Whatever it is, I'm getting the hell out of here!_

I frantically jump out of the snow and stomp my way through it and into the opposite direction. I turn around, taking another gaze. Then, I hear another onr... This one sounding even closer.

My heart is already trying to jump out of my chest. _At least when we fought with Ceres and that girl from 10, they didn't try to build suspense to make me look like a little kid! This is absolutely torturous!_ "WOOOOOORFFF!" The sound is caught in the wind. I'm unable to tell which direction it's coming from.

The fact that I can barely see 2 feet in front of me is also not helping matters and this piercing sound... as almost like somebody crying. However, it almost like a wolf.

I think it's a mutt. I hold my knife out in front of me, my body shaking exponentially (And I can't tell weather it's from the cold... or my fear).

Nonetheless, I'm still scared. My mind scampers. What type of death am I going to suffer? Am I going to get mauled to death? If so, I hope it happens instantly instead of slowly and painfully. I'm pretty sure that'll be the case. Not even the Capitol would like seeing a 12 year old like me suffering like that.

 _Though to be fair, I'm already emotionally broken. They're watching a 12 year old go through the 8 or so (Cannot remember) stages. Assholes._

However, these thoughts begin to build up. My fear, worry, anxiety, sadness and anger all start pouring through.

My body shakes like mad. My heart pounds harder than before and my eyes start feeling with water. I don't know what emotion to feel. I completely break down at that moment.

"WOOOOR!" And at the exact moment a Mutt jumps at my head from the snow.

The mutt pounces on me. Next thing I know, I'm in the snow with my knife in my hand. While I'm still struggling to even register than THIS is now happening, my rage begins to build up.

"You! ARGH!" I shout as I begin to escape from its claws. It begins to start stabbing down, sinking its paws into my chest. However, I begin pushing it off me. All at once, it gets knocked off me. I grip my knife in anger as the wolf begins to charge at me.

I should be running, I know that. However, I know I'm going to die if I run and yes I'm committing suicide doing this but at this rate what should I do-,

It sinks its teeth in my ankle. I scream in agony, nearly falling forward. However, I glare down at the wolf, sinking the knife I have right into its head. It howls, jumping back from me.

I step back, my ankle burning in pain. The knife is still in the head of the wolf as it yelps. I pick up my bag and scamper through for another knife. All at once, I jump the wolf, attacking it like a maniac child.

However it won't even stay down. It jumps up, tackling me to the ground.

I won't let it take me down yet! "GET OFF!" I shout, shoving it off me with all my strength.

It falls over onto its back, though it quickly jumps up and is ready to strike. I scurry backwards, slowly getting to my feet. My eyes are concentrated into a pure glare of anger. For some reason, I want this thing **DEAD**. I throw my knife at the wolf, hitting it only inches from its eye.

If yelps once more, still not giving up.

I yell in annoyance. "You people aren't going to get away with me like you did my allies." I grunt, slowly limping towards the wolf.

It only stands still as I hold up my knife, ready to strike. However... It doesn't even move this time, almost like it has given up. I pause, confused.

It... It almost brings me back to reality all at once. I put my knife down, taking a few steps back.

 _W-Was I really... That willing to kill that? Even if it was a mutt..._ I shake my head. I have to remind myself that the games are known for changing people. I'm no exception. I hold my knife, slowly limping away from the wolf.

For a few seconds, I feel completely awful about what I did without even a reason. _Why did I do that? What in me caused me to snap like that?_ I question myself for a few seconds before I think I can come up with a legit answer.

Then I think I see it clearly. That mutt was designed to kill me. I was meant to join Byke and Troy next. My anger was only boiling more and more and to my brain, that mutt was the personification of the Capitol.

Somehow, this makes me giggle a little. "Even I'm a little confused." I admit, turning around to the wolf.

However, its body now slumps into the grey snow. It doesn't seem to be breathing anymore...

I shake, taking in a giant deep breath. "Let's just agree I never did that, okay Altar..." I say to myself, slowly limping from the site.

 _At least I'm still alive..._

* * *

 **Remaining Tributes**

 _District 4 Female (Monica)_

 _District_ _5 Male_

 _District 9 Male  
_

 _District 10 Female (Bella)_

 _District 11 Male (Altar)_

 _District 11 Female (Ceres)_

 _District 12 Female_

* * *

Originally this chapter was barely over 2K words but I finally decided to try my hardest at dragging it out. Surprisingly, I did a good job at making the chapter longer. Hurrah! Altar nearly reaching his breaking point as the 4th [And longest] day come to a close. Coming up next, more tributes! Oh, and the return of the careers...

And yes... This does mean there are 3 chapters for just _one_ day... Yes, I suck...

 **Icytopia (Chapter 14) - Yay. I actually managed to make a death of a character sad a not... well abrupt and kind of overlooked like in 99. Well... Maybe it isn't that much of an improvement but that's up the reader. Also you're lucky that the outline of the story is 3 years old because I'd probably just have killed Altar right then and there at the idea that he'll win since he's the protagonist XD. And since Byke is dead now, Altar is unable to receive sponsorship gifts. Don't worry though, the boy has armor on his side. Plot armor that is lol.**

 **Icytopica (Chapter 15) - I'm glad you found some enjoyment and something to like in this chapter. Also, 5 and 9 volunteering... *Looks around* I surprised the gamemakers haven't put the plan together as fast as you did... #FireSomePeople**

Thanks for reviewing. It's always fun hearing what people have to say about the story. (Wish I had gotten the time to submit for your SYOT, I was too slow)

See you all next time!


	17. Deep Fog (Day 5)

I jolt upwards in shock. I'm breathing heavily, clutching my chest.

 _Nightmare... My first since I got here to the Capitol... I'm surprised I went so long without one-,_

Then I suddenly notice everything around me. When I went to sleep I was in the middle of a field with nothing but snow surrounding me. Now there is no snow, instead I'm surrounded by a giant wetland.

"Did the snow melt while I was out? How... How did it do that so quickly?" I question.

My mind is racing, confused. As I search around, frantically wondering if the answer is right in front. It isn't like the sun is out at the moment, matter of fact it seems darker than it did earlier. My heart begins pounding.

 _Am I dead or something? Did the wolf sneak up and kill me?_

I pick up my bag and begin slowly walking off. _Well if so, this... this isn't the next world people expected. Maybe I am still alive, but then again the Hunger Games is pretty much hell in itself, no difference._

I kind of laugh at that. Each step I take ends up making my shoes wet. Right as I begin walking through the wetlands though, my stomach begins to growl.

"Oh right, I haven't eaten in about a day. I guess all that emotional trauma made me forget I'm supposed to take care of myself." I admit

I crouch down, checking into my bag. In about a second, I grab something out of it. The first thing I bring out is a sack of crackers which were in my backpack when I found it. Of course, I still have the crackers from LONG ago still in here. I take a cheese cracker and taste it. _I also have a loaf of bread but I should save that for when I'm really about to die of hunger._

Though when I think about it... I don't remember eating at all yesterday. I can already see some veins in my arms. It's a little uncomfortable to look at but otherwise I think I'm going to live for now.

I begin jogging forward towards the northeast which is the direction the giant mountain is. There could be something more past that area, possibly.

I look up to the darkening sky, almost completely black actually. It's honestly pretty strange. The weather has been VERY inconsistent. First it started off very moderate before becoming very chilly. Now it's back to being very moderate with signs of bad weather affront. Hopefully it isn't hail. Hail storms are both unpredictable and unavoidable. Both back at home and here.

Also, I'm out in the open. No way to avoid one of those. _So is that the gimmick of the arena? Making sure that the arena is unpredictable because this is pretty lame and tame compared to the 25th and 50th. Well to be fair so was 75th but it wasn't too bad._

 _The 25th had the type of seasons change every 12 hours. As tame as it may sound it got REALLY out of hand at the end._

 _The 50th was more or less like this. However, the arena was very nice looking with no danger in site. THAT was until you'd come to the conclusion that everything in the arena was dangerous. It was horrifying to say the least._

 _The 75th was a land of candy with sweets as far as they eye could see. It didn't end well to say the least..._

This arena seems to be any other arena just with a god awful weather system that seems to be bipolar. Annoying as it is, I'll have to give the gamemakers credit for making an arena that causes the tributes to jump around even without tributes fighting each other.

 _Speaking of which, can you believe I haven't come into direct contact with one in days._ Not counting the District 8 tributes from the other arena accidentally rushing into this one, the last tribute I actually ran into was Ceres and the 10 girl. I only saw the District 12 girl but that was it.

I grin a little thinking of that. "And there are only like, 7 of us in this area left? Well that's way too good to be true." I admit, walking towards the horizon.

* * *

 _ **(Time Passes...)**_

* * *

As I slowly get a little closer to the base of the mountain, I notice another forest surrounding it. It's actually kind of interesting and intriguing. The grass surrounding is wet, causing every step I make to make a small splashing sound. It's annoying. I'm trying to stay quiet, why does it have to do that?

I sigh, taking a few more steps forward. A heavy fog lays over the forest. It's haunting and very unnerving. As I get in deeper, the fog gets heavier and worse. My mind is jumping around both in awe and fearing for my life. I don't doubt there's some mutts hiding around in here and there could be a possibility that a tributes in here.

 _Wait why am I coming in here then..._

"Heh. I'm a stupid kid who lost the only people he could call friends. I guess I'm just becoming suicidal." I sigh.

I take a few more steps into the room, chill bumps beginning to form as my heart pounds against my chest. I feel like I'm hearing sounds. Nothing specific but I hear feet movement.

I pull out another knife from my backpack. _If anythings in here they probably aren't going to survive me._ I take a few more steps forward before picking up speed. As I look around, I feel like I'm seeing things. Like faces in the trees. Eyes watching me from a distance.

My mind becomes a little more panicked. "I should leave. This isn't a very safe place." I say, turning towards the entrance I came in from.

I begin rushing in a full on dash towards the entrance... Just this isn't exactly the place I started. "What? I could've sworn this was the-, Oh no!" I shout, looking around.

I begin ventilating at a great rate, fearing for my safety. I'm looking around franticcly, hoping... praying the way out is somewhere around here.

I head in the opposite direction before heading east. I think I see a light so I run harder than before. Right before I can get to it though, I spot a moving object through the corner of my eye.

I'm about to jump back when suddenly I'm tackled to the ground. I scream, having been expecting something like this. I wave my knife around, trying to take out whoever has thrown me to the floor.

Before I know it though, the thing is slamming its fist into my face and over. "BRITE! GET OFF HIM!" Somebody shouts in my direction as I'm punched in the face repeatedly.

A few seconds later, the boy is forcibly pulled off me. I pull myself back, absolutely confused at everything that's going on at the moment.

"What the hell, Bran!" He shouts.

He waves his hands. "Don't hurt the kid yet." He says.

The older boy glares at me. "Why not? He's in the area, we have to kill him anyways. Stop being such a pansy!" He shouts.

The other boy shakes his head. "Brite. Not yet. We're being outnumbered and even if the others are okay, we need more." He explains.

I sit back, confused. "More... More what?" I ask.

Bran gives me a dead stare. "Let's just say... fodder. Something like that." He says.

For a second, I'm confused. "You mean you need people to just... die for you? Why the hell would I agree to that?" I ask.

The boy just shakes his head. "You don't need to. I'm forcing you to help up, boy." He says.

After closer examination, I recognize their jackets. Rust Red for 5... Bottle green for 9... It's them. The two rebellious tributes.

"It's you two. The 9 and 5 alliance." I grit my teeth, backing up.

"Yeah, us. I'm Brite and that's Bran. There were more of us but... well they're dead now." The District 5 boy, Brite, explains.

I'm still shocked. How did I even come across these two? Why were they hiding in this forest of all places and the list of questions go on.

"Wh-What were you two doing... hiding in here?" I ask.

Bran looks over to Brite. Brite then gives an affirmative nod cuing Bran to turn back to me. "You see, there aren't any cameras in here. Surprisingly not. Also, we're good at a thing called ambushing people. This is the best place to use that practice." They explain to me.

I'm still baffled about what they said first though. "They don't have cameras in here? WHat type of bull is that? Who even said that?" I question.

"Oh... Uh this might take a lot of time to explain. You see... we're apart of a-,

"Rebellion? Yeah, I once heard a meeting between you and the others." I tell them.

Brites eyes light up. "You WHAT!?" He gets up, grabbing my shirt collar.

I'm actually scared now. "Y-Yeah. I was going to sneak in some training but you guys were in their discussing your plan or whatever!" I say in a very panicked mode.

Not even Bran gets him off me this time though. "You bastard! You didn't tell anyone about it did you?" He shouts in my face.

I quickly shake my head. "Not even your brother?" He questions in a desperate tone.

"No. I was too tired to care." I argue.

The older boy just shoves me into a tree. "Hm. Well since you have info on our plan we very well can't let the boy go." He sighs.

"Luckily we found the brat. If he let out any information we're screwed." Brat takes a deep breath.

I give a confused look. "So wait? You're going to hold me hostage?" I question.

"Nope," The boy from 5 (Brite) shakes his head. "We're going to use you as a meat shield of such." He exclaims.

My eyes widen. _So there going to use me as a human shield? A 12 year old? What assholes._ However, I don't let my fear and anger show.I sit up straight, glaring at them.

"And what if I try to escape?" I question them.

Bran chuckles. "We kill you. Simple as that." He exclaims.

I mimic his chuckle. "You're going to have to be fast on your feet to do that." I smirk at them, showing confidence. To be fair, I am VERY fast. Heck, I'm pretty sure I could've reached the cornucopia before a lot of the other tributes, just I knew it was way to risky to go in head on.

Back to the conventioneer with me and the rebellious ones, the aren't amused at my comment. "It'll be pretty easy to simply take you down before you can get to far. Trust us, we have confidence in our speed." Brite argues.

I liked it better when I was in an alliance with people that were there for each other. Brite seems to be on the jerkass side of things while Bran doesn't even know what he's doing. At this moment, I actually want to get up and make a run for it.

"It isn't like you two plan on going anywhere. Why do you even need a human shield?" I ask.

Bran gives a shrug. "You'll be more like a distraction for when we go to the cornucopia again. We only have a days worth of food currently." Brite explains.

"How long have you fools been in here?" I ask.

"2 or so. We can't tell. You can't tell if it's day or night. Heck, we don't even know who's died yet." Bran admits.

I facepalm hard enough to leave a mark on my forehead. "You see... The careers are all gone now. They were killed by District 10 and 11." I tell them.

After I explain that to them, Bran gives me the most dumbfounded face I think I've ever seen. "But somebody else has to be occupying the place right now! Trust us." He gets up.

I sigh. "So when do you two plan on leaving?" I ask.

"Right now actually." Brite also stands up.

My eyes widen. "Really? Are you two even prepared?" I question them.

Brite turns around and glares. "Don't question us! We know what we're doing!" He spits.

I roll my eyes. "No stopping you know. But one last question... How do you know there aren't cameras in this area?" I ask.

Bran laughs a little. "Well, you aren't going to believe this but one of the gamemakers is helping us out." Bran tells me.

I facepalm. "I don't think that makes sense in any degree..." I begin to get up as well.

 _I don't see why they need fodder. These idiots are going to get themselves killed anyways..._

* * *

 **(Time Passes...)**

* * *

If my face shows anything at this moment, it's contempt. What the hell does these idiots think they're doing forcing me to follow them along with this. Well, yeah I know information to their "plan" but I honestly don't give a shit about it, I don't plan on telling anybody and finally I didn't even plan on interfering.

Well to make sure I don't get away, I'm standing in front of them so they can make sure I don't run away.

We head directly towards the cornucopia (Which is already a 2-4 hour trip by foot) through the murky swamp. It's actually been a while since I traveled through this area of the arena. By this point though, I can't even concentrate on that as my feet seem to burn in agony. We've been marching nonstop. At least I took breaks when I did everything on my own. These idiots don't know what they're doing.

"Hey? Are we going to stop to take a break at some point?" I ask.

Bran shakes his head. I growl, annoyed. I face forward.

This... Is... Stupid...

As we move across the swamp, I find myself not caring much about everything that's going on around me. The birds are chirping (And anytime I hear ones close to me, I scamper around in fear that there are bird mutts surrounding me again), some frogs are croaking and the boys behind me are bickering about what they should do when they meet up with the rest of their alliance.

I'm moving quietly, almost like a boy heading to the funeral of their father. _I wouldn't exactly know since my dad never had a burial service... But I digress._

However, suddenly the two behind me stop. I stop as well, turn around. They're looking around, as if they're searching for something.

"Did you hear something?" I ask them.

"No shit. What else." The Brite grits his teeth.

I sigh. "It was probably nothing. Let's get moving." I tell them.

Bran rolls his eyes. "Says you." He begins to move forward.

I turn back to Brite. He's still looking around for what could've been the sound he heard. Bran just walks ahead of me as he does.

After a few moments, Bran turns around and gives Brite a confused look. Brite finally turns back to Bran, eyeing him with a very serious face. "It's them. We've got to go!" He shouts, picking up speed and rushing off ahead.

"Wait? Who!?" Bran questions him, taking the words right out of my mouth.

It only takes 2 seconds for the question to be answered though. In no time flat, something jumps out of the mud and I hear a giant comping sound. Mud flies everywhere, confusing us as we look around.

"BRITE!" Bran shouts, his voice cracking in fear.

All we hear from Brite is a loud, horrific scream. In the place Brite was a second ago is nothing... nothing but the mud that was their before he... Died.

 **"BOOM!"**

Yeah... He just died.

"What the hell was that?!" I ask.

Bran shakes his head. "FOLLOW ME!" He shouts as he begins running forward.

I'm already questioning weather I should run with him or away. As I sprint, these thoughts begin clouding my head. _Seriously! That thing came from the ground! We should jump in the trees or something!_

Matter of fact, that's exactly what I begin doing. I throw myself at a tree before gripping on and climbing up. The boy from 9 turns back and notices me up on the tree.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He shouts at me.

 _"_ Surviving! You should do it too!" I shout as the ground around him begins to slowly sink.

He jumps out of the way before continuing his mad sprint. By this point, he's too far away for me to see him. I'm taking some breaths, both winded from all the walking AND running as well as mortified.

 _Is he going to be okay?_

"AAAAAAH!" Something shouts over the horizon. Another loud chomping sound is heard before silence...

 **"BOOM!"**

A canon is heard. I want to say that it's the boy from 9 but that sounded a hell of a lot like a girl... Hm...

I sigh. _Maybe that was District 12. I doubt it was anybody else... Or it could've been Monica but I doubt she's around at all._

I doubt the gamemakers are stopping with just 5 and 12/4 so I decide to stick up in the tree, climbing up a little higher. The tree isn't too tall so I manage to climb up all the way to the top.

As I do, I manage to see the entire forest from up here. Matter of fact, the cornucopia isn't very far off. _Which is strange considering... You know, it was FAR to the west._ From the look of it... we went East so how is the cornucopia-,

"Hm. So this must be the other arena... And they aren't going to let us in the easy way huh..." I realize.

I snap my fingers. I should try jumping from tree to tree. I heard Aunt Rue was good at it. Why won't I...

I take a deep breath before looking over the horizon.

 _1... 2... 3..._

* * *

 _I got distracted by literally everything this week. Heck, if I just sat down I'd find something else to distract me (Usually stuff I do on Youtube and annoying children but that's unimportant). Also, I started watching Death Note... That actually isn't relevant to anything but I just started watching it so if I'm gone to long... I'm probably binge watching that..._


	18. Names and Faces (Night 5)

I sit on the top of the cornucopia, watching as the sun now sets on the arena. I was wrong. This was the cornucopia we started at, just I was thinking a little backwards. Disappointing, yes. Though to be honest, it wasn't anything to get hyped over. What IS something to get interested over is the fact that not very long after I started jumping trees, the announcer came back on the air and announced that tonight they'd show all of the currently deceased tributes to catch us up.

This is good because I'll get to know who's dead and who's alive.

Anyways. Let me explain what the hell happened between the time I got kidnapped by District 5 and 9 and now. I managed to get from tree to tree [Almost like a monkey] and then I rushed over here to the cornucopia. I got some drinking water and got on top of the cornucopia. For a while now, I've been watching from above. Nobody has run by me yet though.

At this moment, I finish eating the last of the crackers I had picked up at the cornucopia, back when the bloodbath went down. I'm still inspecting the area.

"Still... Nobody is around... Hm..." I say to myself.

I should've stopped drabbling around hours ago when I got here but sitting on top of the cornucopia while times flies is... actually quite relaxing. For the first time in... well, ever I think my heart is pounding out of excitement and not fear like it usually does.

After OH so many days of being on my toes, now is the day where I feel kind of interested in seeing what happens next in the games instead of being afraid everything is going to go downhill. Though the sky was already pretty dark before hand, the sky is FAR darker than it had ever been before leading to me assuming that it's somewhere around night time.

I was hoping I'd see more tributes before then but... Oh well. I take in a breath of fresh air as I stand up on the cornucopia. I question weather I should stay and wait the rest of the games out or just leave. Maybe I'll find my brother faster that way.

The story just gets off and off doesn't it. First my whole goal was to see how long I could survive. THEN I decided it'd be nice to stick around with an alliance and survive with them... Then I gave up. Now it's time to search for my older brother.

 _If he's alive that is but you know, I shouldn't doubt it. He was asked to join the careers after all._

I look up at the sky. "I hope he hasn't suffered from too many traumatic things." I sigh.

Since I've gotten here, I've been the only thing I've had. I'm not counting Byke, Troy and Monica. They were great but... They were only around for so long. Thinking of them again frustrates me.

The thought that has been clouding my head in the meanwhile is that... well I believe that I could've helped them. Troy died wanting to protect Byke and died doing just that. _But then again, what was I supposed to do about that, fight the girl from 10? She would've run me over without mercy._

That also gives me a thought. Considering how she was chasing me, I'm surprised she let me off like that. It's lucky to be honest.

Whatever. I sit upon the top of the cornucopia for hours at a time, watching the remaining light in the arena slowly but shortly vanish. I await the news... knowing who has survived and who has perished. Today... Day 5... It'll be the halfway point for the games.

Honestly it's kind of interesting when you remember that last year, the games were actually only 5 days. Hm...

By this point, the sky is almost completely black. I don't know whether to blame the bipolar weather system or just the night sky that it's covering. I'm not thinking about anything in particular anymore. While Byke and Troy still haunt my thoughts annually I'm gradually accepting it... But that makes me feel horrible.

 _I mean, why am I just tossing their deaths to the side like that? Shouldn't I care._ Something in me doesn't...

However, I jolt when the anthem begins playing. The Capitol seal appears in the sky, lighting up my surroundings as if it was the only star in the sky. I await the recap. Who has lived? Who has died?

I see the face of the District 1 boy, the one who messed with me in training. Then the female. However, it jumps right over to District 2 meaning that the others from our arena are still alive.

Over in the other arena, they lost their female counterpart. District 3 lost 3 out of their 4 tributes (Only having a male tribute from the other arena). District 4 still has both of its tributes from the other arena miraculously.

District 5 has only one tribute in the other arena as the other two perished.

Then... Comes Byke and Troy again. I sigh, seeing their faces once more. District 6 was complete wiped out. 7 Has at least one girl while 8 was wiped out just like 6. I sigh.

Next comes 9 which has both tributes from the other arena still around as well as the one from ours.

The only one from 10 happens to be Bella so...

Next comes 11, _the first face to show up is Soya's..._

My heart stops for a moment. I almost forgot about Soya... quiet... depressed and innocent Soya. Seeing her face up there... Her depressed look, her eyes widened like she was a puppy. But when I look closer, it looks more like she's in a state of shock. Her mouth is open, as if she wants to say something.

It pains me a little, knowing that she's gone. For the second time in the arena, I kiss my pointer, middle and index fingers before pointing them towards her image.

"Goodbye Soya. You didn't deserve this. They can burn and hell for doing this to you." I say.

I kind of smile at what I just said because honestly you don't know who I mean by _they_. Do I mean her parents? The Capitol? This kids who killed her? Well I can assume the Capitol can assume I'm talking about them but I'll deal with that one later...

The next face is one of the District 12 tributes. In only one second I go through a mood wiplash as I jump for joy, realizing that my brother is fine and alive at the current moment. _Just I have to find him, that's all..._

 _Find him..._

I sit back down. _Find him in THIS arena? Jee, that sounds easy doesn't it._ I groan. I look back up at the sky. I know that every single move I make is critical and I can't afford to do anything stupid anymore. I might die after all. _I need Alma though... I just need too find him..._

Anyhow, looking back up I find that District 12 has lost all of their tributes. _So that makes about... 16 of us? Whoa, that's... quite a lot... Better keep my guard._

I begin to get up and scoot off of the top of the cornucopia. I jump down, back onto the crate the helped me get up, before looking at my surroundings. The dark sky along with the _VERY_ dark clouds make visibility nearly impossible now but I decide that it's now or never.

Slowly, I make my way up north. In this direction was not only the beach but also a very large mountainous area that surrounded it. It could be some pretty good cover for all I know.

I rush inside the cornucopia before settling down and slowly removing unnecessary stuff from my bag. After this, I grab some food before placing it inside my bag. After I do that, I get up and begin my exit from the area surrounding the cornucopia.

 _It seems that I have a long journey ahead don't I?_

 **"CRRAAACCKK!"** But suddenly the piercing sound of thunder interrupts my thoughts.

 _Another storm? Really?_

I'm inclined to just continue on my way, as if nothing is going on.

 **"BAM!"** When suddenly the next lighting strike hits a tree not very far outside.

I jump back, horrified. "Okay, so maybe I should stay back..." I begin walking back.

It only takes a few seconds for rain to start pouring from the sky. And when I say pour... _It pours._ It's raining so hard that I'm immediately drenched and cold. It's almost as if the sky was crying out.

I quickly turned around and ran for the safety of the cornucopia. My feet stomp up the mud puddles that the rain form as I charge directly over to the cornucopia.

By the time I've arrived in the safety of the cornucopia, I'm completely drenched and cold. I'm breathing heavily.

"Okay, so major rain storm is going to stop me from finding Alma... Guess I better hide out in here." I say to myself, breathing heavily.

I feel there's a possibility that another tribute might just rush up in here but at this point, I just want to stay out of the rain.

Quietly, I take off my bag and lay myself against a wall. However, it doesn't take very long for water to start flooding into the cornucopia forcing me to jump up on a create to avoid getting wet.

 _What a pain. So is this arena just a bunch of storms or something like that because it's getting VERY annoying._

I sigh. _Tomorrow? Hopefully or something like that._

Iwatch as the rain continues to get increasingly heavier. While I said before that I thought the rain was soothing, it slowly starts to get bad. The rain goes from pouring to the ground to literally POUNDING the ground.

 _What the hell is this? This is even worse than the storms in 11?_

Thunder continues to sound from the sky as time slowly goes by...

* * *

 _ **Time Passes...**_

* * *

I'm awoken by a sudden lighting strike. I'm jolted upwards, breathing heavily. "Oh, the storm." I say to myself.

I look around. I'm surprised the cornucopia hasn't just flown away due to the storm. Speaking of which, taking one look outside makes me glad that I decided not to venture through the storm considering how the winds have been bad enough to knock over a few of the trees in the surrounding area.

I gaze out, watching as the wind tears everything apart. Some of the supplies that were once inside the cornucopia have been moved. The wind inside the cornucopia is causing my hair to flow back a little but otherwise, it's not as bad as it is outside the cornucopia.

 _Somethings not right here. This isn't just a thunderstorm is it?_

I just assume that it is for now. Anyways, I'm just going to have to stake it out until daytime comes. I take another look outside. The rain, the wind, the thunder and lightning... they all make going outside at the moment currently suicidal.

 _Lucky me. I get to hide out in the cornucopia._ Sadly the other 15 tributes won't be able to. They'll be struggling against the awfulness of the storm..

 _Tomorrow... Tomorrow I'll find you... Alma..._

* * *

 _Remaining Tributes_

 **District 1 Male**

 **District 1 Female**

 **District 2 Male**

 **District 3 Male**

 **District 4 Male**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 4 Female**

 **District 5 Female (Circa)**

 **District 7 Female**

 **District 9 Male (Bran)**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 9 Female**

 **District 10 Female (Bella)**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 11 Male (Alma)**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**

* * *

 **Thank god for Breath of the Wilds soundtrack, it wouldn't get me in the mood for writing. Anyways, I was actually surprised. I outdid myself because I have 16 more tributes to play around with meaning that... Well this story is gonna go on FAR longer than I meant for it. Hooray I guess?**

 **Sorry for the AWFULLY short chapter this week (No this does not confirm that there's a weekly schedule, just it's always around a week when I get these done), I decided to split this part of the story since most of the problems that this storm will cause will need to happen... Well, when Altar wakes up for Day 6. See you then!**

 **(Funny thing, I'm pretty sure I came up with the name for this chapter after binge watching all of Death Note in less than a week...)**


	19. Home (Day 6)

**_Recap chapter!_**

* * *

I sit quietly on top of a supply crate as I watch the rain continuously pound the ground. I try my hardest to get comfortable against the wall. However, I can't find myself sitting still at all. I shake, feeling colder and colder by the minute. I take a deep breath.

A week ago, I wouldn't have expected to be here in the games freezing to death. Wondering if I was going to get out of this storm alive or not. Wondering if my older brother will be fine. You could've gone back and told me that I'd be reaped. Maybe I'd believe you, maybe I'd expect the worst. However, I wouldn't expect it to dig this hard into my head.

I take a few deeps breaths, looking outside and watching the rain pound the dirt and mud. Watching the wind destroy trees. Watching the world fall apart around me. I look back inside the cornucopia and try to warm up. I feel helpless again. I don't feel too scared, but I just feel empty.

For some reason though, this brings me into another thought. Soya. The other girl from my district who recently died. She always sat silently around the rest of us. I remember on the train ride. She sat silently next to Ceres. Now my thoughts move over to Ceres. Ceres is the other District 11 girl. She was clearly the opposite of Soya. Loud. Angry. She proved that she was a force to be reckoned with by the way she acted everywhere she went. In the bloodbath, she was dominant. She took out the careers almost single handedly. I'm getting chills just thinking about the whole bloodbath situation.

I look over my shoulder and notice that the bloody wound that has been there for a few days is slowly starting to heal up. I got it from a small skirmish with the District 10 girl, Bella, back in the bloodbath. It wasn't too bad but it still kind of hurts.

I look back outside. I blankly look outside as the whole arena is torn apart. I take a few deep breaths, trying to stay calm at the situation. I'm starting to wonder if it's possible for the whole cornucopia to just be ripped of its support and fly away. That'll leave me with absolutely nothing, then again it isn't like it wasn't like that before.

Way earlier into the games I found myself joining up with my assigned partner, Byke. We would be sharing the same supply line so if she died, I wouldn't be getting anything. Originally I was doubting my abilities. I thought joining up with somebody would make me feel less scared to be completely honest. Well, to be honest I forgot about my worries early on into the games.

I was too busy freaking out over every stupid thing Byke did. This included the District 6 male joining with us, which was her plan on along just she didn't let me know this beforehand. After that we ended up joining up with the girl from 4, Monica. Together, we managed to hide away from most of the early competition as they killed each other. It felt like an eternity. Me, Byke, Troy and Monica running along the arena hiding and talking about ourselves. Sometimes you could almost say I even forgot we were in the Hunger Games.

While it may have felt like an eternity... We were only together for a day and a half. In the middle of the night, my district partner and a girl she aligned with practically slaughtered us all. I was lucky to get out in one piece.

I lay back on a box, looking towards the ceiling. I should've known that everything would be torn apart in the way it was. My district partner, Ceres, is dangerous. I don't know what she did in 11 but it was bad enough that they rigged the reaping to put her into the games. Early on she was beginning to turn a few heads in her direction. She was narcissistic, snarky and all around clever. Hell, some even said she was quite sexy for somebody from such an impoverished District like 11.

She was the most confident and for the most part, I knew that she, along with the careers, would be the biggest obstacle in the games. The fact that she had aligned herself with the District 10 girl right as the games kicked of was also a problem.

The District 10 girl, Bella, seemed mysterious as soon as the reaping began. She was obviously going to be quite dangerous. Really, the only noteworthy thing I know she's done as of now is helping take out the careers, killing my friends and chasing me in the bloodbath.

Remembering the events of the bloodbath is still quite chilling. I will probably never forget the things I saw. Peers being killed all around me as I tried my hardest to quickly grab a bag. If it wasn't for the fact that I only slightly out of the way from the rest of the tributes I would've most definitely died.

I take a deep breath. My shoulder got sliced, that was about it. My shoulder is only bruised now but otherwise I'm fine there. I look down at my ankle. I'm surprised it isn't swollen from all the constant walking I've done, combined with the bird mutt that attacked me only a few days ago.

While I was in the little alliance with Byke, Monica and Troy I was basically caught in the middle of a barrage of attacks that would come out of nowhere. The first one was soon after we officially became an alliance. A giant serpent attacked us. Monica and me managed to take it out (While the others distracted it). It wasn't too much of a challenge but it was still pretty scary.

Later on that nearly got trapped in a cave as it filled up with water. Monica managed to rescue us (Albeit nearly drowning herself). Before we got attacked by Ceres and Bella, we were attacked by a pack of mutt birds that jabbed at them through the forest. we all ended up critically injured. Thankfully we were all given sponsorships and because of that we never bled out.

Soon afterwards though, we were attacked by Ceres and Bella. Byke and Troy were both eliminated very quickly with me and Monica barely getting out alive. Since then, I haven't seen Monica. Not once. At this point, I've decided to finish the games on my own.

Or... Well that was the original plan. Reminder: The games are done with two arenas. My older brother was in the other arena and from what I know he's currently alive. I'm so thankful for this because if I find him, we'll team up together. Though the only remaining problem is the fact that only one of us can come home, however I shove that thought far back.

I sit up and look back outside the cornucopia. The wind is howling and the rain is pelting the ground, causing mud to splatter the ground and upwards. Outside the cornucopia, the world seems to be spinning at 100 Miles per hour. It'd be a nightmare to be out their right now.

 _Alma is out there as I speak... Hope he's okay._

I don't actually know if he's still alive at the moment, but currently all I know is that I've heard 4 canon shots so far and I'm hoping that none of them are Alma.

I look back outside. The wind is howling violently and right into the cornucopia. I shiver heavily. I'm still wondering how long this storm will last. It's been about a day since it began storming and honestly this is worst than ANY of the storms I've seen in my life.

District 11 had thunder storms. This is worse than any thunderstorm that I have seen. _It makes me wish I had my mom here with me..._

And that reminds me of reaping day. Reaping day was just...

Considering it was my first time at reaping, I was expecting quite a sight to behold. But never in my life did I expect to be reaped. Nor did I expect it to happen to my brother.

I remember talking with mom. She couldn't hide the pain this brought her. It seemed as if she was having flashbacks, and I honestly bet she was. It's obvious that the reapings were rigged. Two siblings being reaped into the games in a District as big as 11? Pft, there I don't doubt it. Me and Alma always bet on the idea that they chose us since we were related to a former tribute. Rue, the 12 year old who died in the 74th Games.

Anyways, we didn't even get to completely say goodbye to our mother, and that left a bad taste in the mouth of both me and Alma.

I wonder... The chances of either of us coming home are low. However, would the Capitol be expecting it? I never really saw any reason for us to have been rigged into the games other than just to prove a point. Otherwise, our inclusion is almost pointless.

I look back outside of the cornucopia, watching the rain continuously fall. It doesn't remind me of 11, but it actually makes me home sick. Even in a place like 11, I felt safer...

I had people that cared about me. That held me tightly in situations that I couldn't comprehend. All of that was taken from me... And for what? Propaganda? A joke? I grit my teeth with anger.

Never did I think that I'd miss home more than I have now...

It's funny too. Wasn't I _just_ talking about how awful District 11 was and how I wished I could leave. Somebody said there was a saying for this. Something like... You don't miss it until it's gone.

...

That reminds me of my dad. Whatever happened to him... That cold, snowy November night. I came home from school, still hiding my fear under that childish smile. My mother and Alma soon came back from the fields as it became to snowy to work and thus, they were forced to come home.

My mother brought up chocolate and we ate it.

We wondered where our dad had gone... And we never learned...

All I know is that life slowly dove inwards on itself for me. Imagine how my mom must feel. Lost her husband. Her dad. Now both of her kids... It's just...

 **"CRASH!"**

There's a lighting strike not too far from the cornucopia. I look outwards, into the storm.

I... I...

 _I just wanna go home..._

* * *

Heh. Nothing but a short recap chapter for the time being. Sorry it's so short but oh well. If you don't know where this series went, since I'm working on that SYOT I wanted to hold off this story, but I was working on this for a while.

 **Icyz11** \- _No problem. Also yes, Altar mercilessly kills animals... Isn't he 12..._

Lol, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.


	20. Poison (Day 7)

Altar laced his shoes and looked up. The sky was less dark than it had been the day before. He was hoping that was a sign that everything around him would slowly start to clear up. He gave a fierce look outwards. He was nervous about this decisions.

His whole plan had been to find his brother, and now with that opportunity finally coming forward he was ready to get out of the cornucopia. The place wasn't going to be very safe much longer anyways. He was lucky nobody had come across him while he laid in there for two days straight.

Soon, it was possible that more tributes would find their way towards the cornucopia in an attempt to find shelter in case of an even bigger disaster. Altar honestly wouldn't honestly be surprised if the careers were stationed outside of the cornucopia, slowly making their way forwards.

Altar took some deep breaths, trying to prepare himself for what could be quite frankly the most grueling and suicidal journey's ever. This was probably not going to work. Altar didn't even mind though. He was going to go straight ahead, and find his brother. He was sure he could do it. Picking up his back, Altar took a peak outside of the cornucopia.

From what he saw, there weren't any tributes just wandering around. Hopefully nobody was hiding in the grass awaiting him. If he was lucky, he'd be able to outrun an attacker. If they used weapons like arrows or spears then there was a likely chance that he was going to die...

 _Then again, what would tributes have been doing stationing around the cornucopia through a storm.._

Looking up at the sky, Altar couldn't tell the time of day due to the grey clouds.

Paying close attention to his surroundings, he slowly exited the cornucopia and walked outside. It wasn't raining anymore, but there was a large chill in the air. He could even see his own breath.

Slowly but shortly he made his way across the grass, keeping check of his surroundings. His surroundings had changed since the last time he'd been outside. Uprooted trees. Grass completely wiped out and in its place, the dirt. It seemed like even the cornucopia was a little off, but he was sure that was him.

While Altar walked through the grass, he found himself getting distracted by the surroundings. Especially walked by the pedastools the tributes would jump off to run straight towards the cornucopia. He was getting a little bit of deja vu.

It had been what, a week? A week in the games... and the memories of the bloodbath still stung hard for a kid like Altar. His experiences hadn't been the worst. He got out with only a large cut on the arm (Compared to everybody else he was quite lucky) and got a bag with some great supplies. Watching the bloodbath happen though... Still hurt.

The District 3 girl, the girl who was next to him, getting killed by one of the older kids. He was lucky his path wasn't in the midst of the chaos. It was a few meters away from the bloodiest part of the bloodbath and thankfully it took a while for any other tribute to notice a survivor.

The whole event horrified him. He'd seen countless bloodbaths live. The 99th seemed out of control and unfollowable. The ones before that were just the same. The 98th was already THE most controversial moment in the history of the Hunger Games. Experiencing it was its own monster though.

Eventually he found himself in the meadow of flowers... Er, well it _was_ the meadow of flowers. All the flowers are gone now. It sent a chill up Altars spine.

The place had already been a death trap from the start. While the slowing down problem may have been fixed, the sight made Altar nervous.

Thinking a little harder, the kid shook his head and faced forward. He needed to pay attention and make sure no tributes were potentially following him or watching him. He started picking up his pace and running towards the forest up ahead, behind the forest would be the mountainous region.

As he jogged along the path, he was starting to think of the remaining tributes. 2 people died in the storm from what I know. He was honestly surprised the more people hadn't died in the storm. That would've made the odds a _whole_ lot easier on him.

Speaking of odds, something had Altar thinking as of recent.

 _How was he even alive..._

He was really under the assumption that the gamemakers let him be due to his age, wanting the younger audience to have somebody to root for and giving him a better path. Though this never happened in the others games... He was curious... But then again, this was just a theory with not roots or background. Chances were, he was making a massive guess.

Anyways, soon Altar founds himself at the entrance of the forest. Around the same place he had met up with Byke earlier in the games.

He looked around, some memories coming back. They also met Troy around this area and well... It was fun.

However, Altar shook his head, wanting these memories to pass on. However, these memories still stung. He continued through the forest, holding his backpack tightly. The forest had been quite devastated by the storm that had passed through the area. Many trees had been overturned. Matter of fact, there was an entire field of view that had been practically wiped off the map. No trees in sight.

Soon, Altar found himself wandering straight into this area. He was curious, like the kid he was. On the inside, Altar scolded himself for wanting to jump right in. However, he didn't stop himself.

He could see in the distance, the way towards the mountainous region. Maybe this would be a quicker route. In an instant, he rushed past all the fallen and broken trees and made his way to the other side. He took some breaths. He was glad nothing bad happened to him. Now on the other side of the forest, he entered another area. This part he hadn't exactly been too. The ground was wet and damp.

The water from the storm had yet to clear up. He walked over some trees before leaning against one of the trees, exhausted. He took a few breaths, thinking of the direction he was going next...

 **"WHACK"**

When suddenly a dart hit the very tree he was leaning against. Altar fell back, falling straight into the water. He got up quickly however, frantically looking around the area. He saw the dart in the tree and quickly got it out.

 _WHAT A TURN OF EVENTS!_ He thought to himself, questioning where the dart had come from and exactly when they'd strike again. He couldn't just jump out into the open and start sprinting... That was an obvious no-no. He wasn't even safe behind the tree.

It seemed almost in an instant his senses had been sharped by this worry. Altars heart thumped against his chest at a quick pace. The wind howled around him. He quieted himself though, making sure he could hear his assailant. He peaked out from the tree quickly before looking back. Nothing...

Altar even stopped breathing for a moment, making sure he couldn't hear footsteps or something like that. _Nothing but silence though._

Altar thought about it. There _could_ very much be a possibility that that could have just been a booby trap he accidentally set off but either way Altar was NOT a risk taker. He wondered how he was gonna get himself out of this one. It wasn't like he was safe behind the tree. For all he knew, he could be quietly moving in order to to get a better angle in order to get him while he was thinking. Altar shuddered. He wasn't sure what move to make. The best he could do was stay quiet and await the sound of movement. If he was lucky he could probably get around him.

Altar wondered what he was supposed to do. This tree was not going to protect him forever. It felt like hours before he felt the courage to try and move himself. Quickly, he peaked from over the tree in an attempt to goad the person in shooting at him again. However, nothing was done.

Altars heart rate had already begun to rapidly slow down. _Did the person leave? Were they just waiting for him to come out in full to get a good shot?_

He sighed, holding his heart. He was at a breaking point. Chances were, he was going to die. He angrily hit hit head against the tree. He didn't want to die. At least yet. What was he going to do?

What COULD he do?

He grit his teeth and held his bag tightly. There was only one thing he could do. In an instant, Altar bolted off, speeding away. If he was going to die, he needed to at least attempt to use the one percent chance of escape he had. He made a run for it.

Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain in his leg. He screamed out in agony. The pain began to swell up and he fell to the ground. Altar felt it: tears. Tears because he was now going to die. He was trying to stay calm but Altar had begun hyperventilating. His eyes widening up larger and larger.

He saw a foot stomp down next to him in the mud. He tried looking up to get a glimpse and as he did, he could tell.

District 3.

He could hear the boy whispering to himself.

"I don't think he's dead yet. The poison should get him slowly though. No matter how long it takes, it'll save me the blood." He said, walking off.

Altars stopped sobbing suddenly. Poison...

Poison... _Poison..._

He couldn't feel anything yet, aside from the painful dart stuck in his leg. He tried getting a peak back so he could make sure the District 3 boy wouldn't see him. At this point, the District 3 boy was nowhere to be seen. Altar rubbed his palm against the needle. He held back a yell. It hurt badly as he touched it.

He swiftly pulled it out of his leg and grit his teeth through the pain. He looked down at his leg. A ink black substance was dripping out of his leg. He felt himself starting to tear up.

 _He was going to die... And there wasn't a single thing he could do about it._

He wasn't sure whether or not it would be slow and painful or short and sweet. He was hoping it would be instantaneous. Hopefully he would die before his body could rot. He untensed so the pain from the dart would not be as severe as it was.

Then, quiet.

The air was still. The were some cold breezes every now and then but the whether for the most part was just average fall whether. For what felt like hours, Altar reminisced on past events. Everything that had happened up to this point. His alliance. The lift into the arena. The days spent in the Capitol.

He looked up at the sky.

"I lasted 7 days... Not bad... For a kid like me..." Altar sighed, defeated.

As he laid his head down again, suddenly there was a loud yell. A scream to be specific. One of sudden shock mixed with agony.

 **"BOOM!"** And soon afterwards, a canon.

Altars wanted to turn around and see what all the commotion had been. If this was a person and if that person was coming to finish Altar off sooner than expected. However he was too weak. His eyes began to close.

Before he felt his eyes completely close though... He heard a voice. One very familiar...

 _"Oh no! Altar... You'll be fine, Don't worry. We're gonna go home..."_

* * *

 **...**

 **It took me halfway through writing this to realize I wrote the entire thing in 3rd person... I'm done...**

* * *

 **Remaining Tributes**

 **District 1 Male**

 **District 1 Female**

 **District 2 Male**

 **District 4 Male**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Female (Circa)**

 **District 9 Male (Bran)**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 9 Female**

 **District 10 Female (Bella)**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 11 Male (Alma)**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**


	21. Change (Day 10)

My eyes suddenly begin to flutter open. I begin to take a look at my surroundings when I make a few more discoveries. My head feels heavy and my waste down feels as if it's on fire. Before I can try and get up though, a hand is put on my chest.

I open my eyes a little wider. However they're opened completely by instinct. I'm stunned. The person who's woken me up is Alma. Alive and well. He looks down at me, a smile forming on his face.

"Yes brother. You're alive." He said, as I leaned forwards a bit more.

I cough as he pats me on the back. For a moment, I have no idea what he's even going on about. _Alive? Was there a point where I was nearly de-,_

That's when I'm reminded. I was shot by a dart which injected poison into my system. I... I thought I was going to die then and there but apparently not...

I look back up to my brother who's rubbing his hair. "I almost thought your little body wasn't going to be able to handle it. You were out for two days if you couldn't tell." He said, handing me a canister of water.

At that moment, I realized how dry my throat was and how thirsty I felt. I swiftly grabbed the canister and gulped down the water before stopping abruptly. I handed Alma the canister back before wiping my face.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to drink that much." I scratched my head.

He began patting my head. "I understand. So much time spent on... on your own... It's uh..." His words began to trail off.

I gave a confused look towards him. He looked down at the floor. Out of nowhere though, he grabbed me and pulled me towards him and before I knew it we were hugging.

"I'm so damn proud of you Altar!" He cried into my shoulder.

This was quite the moment. Before this moment, I'd never heard my brother cry. Not that I remember at least. He was always looking strong. Acting strong. Protecting me...

"I should've put more faith in you. I didn't expect you to make it past the bloodbath. I can't believe you survived so long. Without me in fact." He told me, putting both of his hands on my shoulders.

I give a nod.

"It wasn't without pain and suffering. But the fact that I'm here right now makes up for that I guess." I admitted. He looked up at the sky. Unlike the past few days, they sky was clearer than it had been before. Only a few large clouds were in the sky. The sun was still hard to spot but it was clearer than it had been the past few days to the very least.

"By the way, I'm curious. What was that large cut on your shoulders and legs from?" Alma suddenly asked me.

That's when I suddenly notice the bandage covering my shoulder.

"OH! This? The shoulder one came from the bloodbath. I... I found a bag to the side and I got hit with a knife while running away." I said to him.

I see the cut in my pants that reveal my large scar.

"This one was from a mut. A large pack of killer birds started cutting me up. I was unable to walk for a while but... But my friends helped me get out of that." I look away for a moment. I'm not about to cry, but I feel myself getting upset just saying that.

"Friends? You mean like an alliance?" He says, sitting back up.

"Yeah. I was in an alliance. With the pair from 6 and the girl from 4." I sigh.

"... Did they... Did they all d-," He begins to ask, struggling along the way.

"Ceres and the 10 girl killed them mercilessly. The 4 girl and me got away but..." I begin to say but I fall silent as my brain wanders elsewhere. We're both silent for a while. However, he nods.

"I see. You've dealt with some stuff huh." He says, looking outwards, into the woods.

"Hey, brother. What about you? What did you do?" I ask him. He looks back at me and sighs.

"My arena... It was hellish." He takes a deep breath. He looks away for a few seconds. Looking towards the volcano.

"For a while, I thought I'd do pretty well. Despite it being a desert, there were lots of springs with lots and lots of water. In fact, the cornucopia was one of these. While I was given the advice to run away, I went into the cornucopia without any hesitation." He started to explain.

Altar looked over at his brother with interest. Alma continued his story. "I got there and grabbed a backpack and found a sword nearby. However someone else had their eyes on it far before me. It was the District 2 female and we had a tug of war over the sword. However I managed to overpower her and sent her into the sand where..." He stopped and went silent as his eyes trailed elsewhere.

"Let's just... Say she died afterwards." He sighed.

I can understand that pain. I managed to kill a tribute. The District 8 female. It's shocking knowing I even got a kill but it's even morose knowing that he just took a life.

"Well afterwards I left with a backpack full of some pretty good goods. A canister of water. Some bread. I got pretty lucky. After escaping the ongoing bloodbath I rested after running for what felt like miles. Of course, I checked my bag and found all the good things I had. I decided I wanted to stay where I was for a while. After all, I didn't need to grab any water from any oasis' since I had some with me. Not to mention I figured some of the other tributes would be fighting to be able to get some water so looking would be a waste of time. Well... Soon afterwards I was attacked." He says, closing his eyes. However he chuckles despite the serious look.

"I'm surprised you didn't say anything about the scar on my face here." He pointed to his cheek where there was just a giant scar. I'm surprised I didn't pick up on that right away. You could tell he'd been cut badly right there. Like he got into a big fight.

"Yeah. Right after that I was sitting under a dead tree for a few hours before I got attacked. It was 6, they nearly got me with a surprise attack. Got my face clean with a knife. Honestly I'm lucky I managed to overpower that boy before he could cut any deeper. He... I had to kill him too." He said, adjusting his collar as if he was starting to feel warmer.

I don't know whether to be shocked, surprised or to feel bad. My brother is tough and so it's no surprise he managed to get 2 kills in a day. However I can tell with the pain in his eyes that despite doing well in the games he couldn't stand it. Before he can continue his story, I punch him on the shoulder.

"What matters is that you're here and alive. I wasn't even sure if I'd ever see you again." I say to him. He sighs and chuckles a little once more.

"Yeah. Yeah. I gotcha. Though if we're gonna be clear I'm actually surprised I made it out of the other arena during those first few days." He said swallowing his spit. I looked over to him curiously. I was kind of curious as to where he'd go with it.

A cough came from his mouth as he began to speak up again. "The days were scorching hot as I expected. I drank lots of water to make sure I stayed at the top of my game. I got a few sponsor weapons during the early days. For some reason I was given another canister, of course it's the one you have." His hand reached into his bag where he pulled out another bag. I nodded, seeing why he was so okay with this.

"Well... By day 4 I was out of water and I was not looking forward to the incoming event. I realized I was gonna have to find an oasis to grab more water. It took a while and I was probably about to pass out when I found one. I grabbed up some water and stupidly chose to stay for the evening since I was still tired. I think it was after a few hours that I realized that somebody was near me. I killed them too." He said.

He put his hand through his hair.

"Really despite the hellish environment of the arena after that, especially with the 8 boy dead and no way to get supplies, I... I never really noticed it once my problems went away. I'd realize how much of a killing machine I could be when trying to fight for my life. I couldn't bear the thought. Sometimes, I'd wanna take my own life because all I was was another pawn playing for the Capitols entertainment... But I'd always remember you. You're childish smile and attitude. Even if there was no chance of you coming out of the first arena alive I wanted to come out of my arena and see you. Again, I-," He continued before I shushed him.

"I get it. You're surprised I made it through. Can we just focus on our gameplan afterwards." I told him.

He chuckled. "Impatient huh. Well you've got a point. Is there any water in this arena?" He asked, looking around. I scratch my chin for a moment before shaking my head.

"I don't recall there being much actually. There was a lake somewhere in the forest to the east of the cornucopia but I don't there we're too close. The other watercourse had been the flowers at the cornucopia. However the storm ripped them all out of the ground." I said, scratching my hair now.

Alma sighed and then cursed. "Well looks like this is gonna be tough. We should just sit still for a while until you finish recuperating." He said. Shaking my head, I began to stand up. However the pain in my leg made me collapse back down in pain.

"Damn. You've got a point I guess." I cried out, falling into the ground face first. He helped me back up.

"See. You need to be careful. Also what did momma tell you about usin those words?" He scolded me. I rolled my eyes. Of course he'd be all upset about that. Then again saying anything like that on the plantations must be dangerous because it can be accidentally be seen as some sort of insult to the peacekeepers watching the fields. They could shoot you on the spot if they wanted. Then again there's also the fact that I'm 12.

"Yeah. Yeah." I shrug, laying back down. He chuckles.

"So this is what happens to my little bro after he's left alone for over a week." He says. He then turns away and looks back at the mountain. I'm starting to get a little curious. He's been staring at the mountain all day and it's making me confused. It reminds me of the District 5 and 9 boys that had been hiding in their. The ones that attempted to use me as a some sort of meat shield considering I knew of their plan. I cringe. The boy from 5 isn't dead from what I know. It's possible he joined up with the the other living rebel members and is planning to finish their "blowing out the arena plan".

I look over to my brother, starting to feel real tempted to tell him. However I sit back. There's no reason to tell him about it. I just sit back and watch him look over at the mountain. The cold wind brushes past his hair before he turns around. He's looking at the sky before he simply looks down at me.

"We're pretty close to the end game you know." He says to me. This causes me to jump up. He's so right. Over a week in and the tribute list is slowly but shortly dwindling down. So... So... So close...

"Well... I was thinking..." I think, looking down at the ground. Alma sits up, now curious.

"Yeah? What's that?" He asks.

"Well... Let's say we do make it to the end of the games. What happens from there on?" I ask, swallowing some spit as I do.

He scratches his head. "Maybe I'll just... Do myself in and secure your victory." He tells me, putting his hand on my head. For a moment I'm confused. However this confusion turns into shock. He cannot be serious. He would... He would really kill himself just to make sure he could make it home?

"W-Why though? You have such a high chance of making it home. Mom wants you to come home!" I told him, sitting up now. Now, he looked away from me.

"Yeah but let's say we both get to the end together and it's just you and me. Mom may want her sons to both return to her, but she'd rather bring you back. I'm 100% sure of that." He claims.

I grab his arm, starting to feel upset. "No! You did all of this yourself. You survived the first arena all on your own! You deserve to go home Alm-," I'm unable to finish as Alma starts yelling.

"I did it by killing people! Why should I even bother! Come on!" He yells in my face. However he backs up and quickly apologizes. Now I feel bad. I understand his pain of having done so much and his wishes to protect me. However, protecting me isn't worth it. All I am is just a bunch of dead weight and trying to keep me alive is nothing but a waste for him. I wanna say this to his face but I doubt he'll wanna hear it. I groan.

"Fine. But what if, let's say I die be-," He puts his hand to my face.

"Don't even bother." He tells me. I sit back. Why does he bother ignoring such a big problem. It isn't like I can hold my own in many situations. I can throw knives decently, sure. Otherwise though if I encounter any more powerful tributes I'm not getting anywhere. After all, how hard can a 12 year old hurl knives?

I sit back, starting to get annoyed. I can't wait until I can start walking again. Maybe then things will start getting interesting again.

I give a sigh. My brother turns around. "Even then we don't have a game plan at the moment. We have enough water for at least three more days. All we have to do is last a little bit longer over here. Then maybe we'll move." He says.

"Now... What if we run into... Let's say another batch of tributes or something?" I ask. He shrugs in response.

"We can either fight them or run away. It depends on the type." He suggests. I nod. Starting to get bored, I look up at the sky. Despite our disagreements on what we should do... I'm glad I'm with my brother again. That's always a plus. I look over at him and chuckle.

"Ya know." I begin, causing him to look back over at me. "I'm just glad I have someone to talk to again. It got so... tense by myself." I say, looking at my hands. There's a little bit of blood on them. Not too much. I find this strange considering these were probably from that wolf I killed about a week ago. Considering the storm the blood should be gone.

"Yeah. Loneliness is enough to drive a person out of their sanity zone. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew I'd see you again... Whew..." He chuckles as well.

I look back at the mountain he was staring at earlier and point at it.

"Hey. I noticed you were staring at that cliff earlier. What was that all about?" I ask him. He looked at it too before looking back at me. He simply shook his head.

"Nothing brother. Though if I start feeling concerned about what could happen... I'll simply tell you." He gave me a pat on the chest, telling me not to worry. I doubted it. Maybe he knew something about it that I didn't. Though what that could be... Ugh.

That reminded me of something. During the previous years hunger games, the District 3 female and the District 9 tributes scaled a mountain and the last image of the event was the winner shouting upwards after shooting a weapon at the camera. It was... unusual. Thinking of that reminded him of when he saw the winner of last years games.

He never really saw his face the night he attempted to go training. However he heard the shakiness of his voice when he talked about his games. In the interviews that came over he could see the sadness that was being projected in his eyes. I heard that he lost his father after the games in an accident. Of course I was also told this was probably the Capitols doing and not really a freak accident.

 _It had to have been something about the games..._

I never really noticed it but it's possible he shot the arena barrier in an attempt to blow it out...

Then I pause. Exactly what the kids this year plan on doing. I look back at that mountain, then at my brother. No way... I mean... Does he possibly know too? I'm silent for a little while longer before I shake my head.

 _No. We'll see..._

* * *

 **District 1 Male**

 **District 1 Female**

 **District 2 Male**

 **District 4 Male**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Female (Circa)**

 **District 9 Male (Bran)**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 9 Female**

 **District 10 Female (Bella)**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 11 Male (Alma)**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**

* * *

 **Another 3 months and another chapter. I've been re-reading this story since I'm not writing it too much and sometimes I just force myself to write a little more of this because I wanna see this end. Honestly it's one of the better stories I've written so it's always fun coming back to it. For those who know of the 97th Hunger Games SYOT I'm writing, don't worry the next chapter is legit 85% done and will be out at least between this week or next week.**

 **See ya**


	22. An Open Wound (Day 10-11)

I hated how I couldn't even be bothered to sleep. I was becoming restless. I didn't understand why. I'd been sleeping pretty hard when nobody else was around but now suddenly with the protection of my brother I can't even close my eyes. Well... To be fair I was staying up all the time back when the night sky was clearer than it had ever been before. Last time I remembered it being like this was... Well, back when I was with Monica watching the night sky before... Well, you know the rest.

I begin to sit up when I realize a knife is next to me. I don't remember putting it there but I probably did to feel safer. I push it a little further away and sit up, facing my brother who's sitting against a tree. I can barely see his face in the darkness but I know he's looking over at me. He's reminding me a little bit of Monica. I kinda wish she was here. I thought she was pretty cool. Though this instead reminds me how much I distrusted her through much of the two days we were aligned. She was older than we were and definetly had a chance on her own so protecting us just seemed like she was wasting her time. She had to have some sort of goal in mind... But even when she could easily just kill or abandon them on the spot she just stayed with them. I mean yeah, I AM pretty good with knives but again I'm not perfect. Her spear was enough to end my life in a flash so it wasn't like she was waiting to weaken me completely. Especially on the day they were separated and Troy and Byke were dying. I recall I wasn't suffering from anything like Byke or Troy. Just a large gash on the shoulder which we healed up afterwards but I mean... Before? Monica could've killed me right then and there. Maybe she was really trustworthy after all.

I cross my arms. If me and Alma ever come into contact with her ever again we should join together. We'd be pretty good together. I wanna tell this to my brother but...

I lay back. I really wish I had my sleeping bag still. I believe Monica has it. We were so tired the day we were attacked that we hadn't even used it. Strange considering that would've made rest a lot easier but I guess Byke was so tired after the constant problems we had on Days 3 and 4. Monica took the sleeping bag when those mutts attacked them. Now Alma didn't have a sleeping bag or anything like that but he did have a few covers which he gave me to sleep on.

 _Monica..._

I'm curious. Is she doing alright? Is she alive or is she just barely breathing at the moment? I sit up and pull my knees closer to my chest.

"You better not have died." I whisper to myself, starting to now feel anxious.

"What?" My brother questions suddenly. My eyes turn his way, surprised he even heard that.

"Oh. Nothing. Don't worry about it." I say, trying to evade a conversation about Monica with him. He gives an understanding nod that I can see through the moonlight.

"Get some rest okay. We may need it for tomorrow who knows." He says in my direction. I nod back and lay my head back on the ground.

As I begin closing my eyes though, I hear a rumbling in the background. Alma looks up at the sky giving off a very concerned face.

"Another storm huh... Fucking hell." He shakes his head. I swallow my saliva. This doesn't sound too good. The last storm was already bad enough but anymore and well... ugh, this cannot end well.

"Yeah, you should get as much rest as you can. If anything we may get swept away by a wave or something and if you can walk on your feet tomorrow then we may stand a chance." He says under his breath. I only nod in response. It's going to be a tiring rest of the night huh...

* * *

 **"Crash"**

I jolt upwards. I actually didn't realize I'd dazed off sometime after my brother suggested I'd rest. Somehow I even managed to catch sleep while it's pouring down rain. And after all those failed attempts too. However on the other hand I'm searching around frantically. I can't see Alma!

"Hey! Altar! I'm over here!" I heard a shout. It turns out Alma is actually just right in front of me but the heavy rain combined with the darkness made him hard to see in front of me.

"Oh god. I thought something happened and I was-," I begin before he comes over and shushes me.

"Quiet... Somebody's nearby and I know it..." He whispers into my ear. Now I'm shaking. S-Somebody's near? Oh no oh no...

I figure this is a dumb decision but I begin to get to my knees. The wind blows past me. I feel the chill of it all over my body. Rain pelts my face as I look up above us. Me and Alma are both checking our surroundings. I take in a large breath silently.

"We should move." I whisper over to Alma. He shakes his head slowly. I cross my arms. We've basically thrown ourselves in a corner. I remember I was being a large idiot by choosing to sleep in the middle of an open field a few days ago. However, you could get a fantastic clear on where everyone was in proximity to you if anyone came by. Of course, nobody ever did this (I was always too far away in an arena with very little tributes) but I felt a lot safer out in the open for some reason. I felt closed in while in the forests. Even when Monica had pledged to protect me, Byke and Troy. I chew on my tongue.

"Pst. Alt." I look up as Alma begins whispering again.

"There's a clearing just ahead. I know it. It's the best place to... Ya know. He makes a motion with his hands, revealing his intent to fight off whoever is hiding. I'm a little relieved but my arms are still feel as if they're made out of clay. Like, they're still shaking in fear.

"W-Why don't we just call them out. It'll-," Without even thinking, my words fade as I hear a loud pounding noise in the darkness somewhere behind me. For a few milliseconds I cannot react. I just know it's coming and I don't know what to do. I find a knife situated next to me and I'm ready to do something without. But I know I'm too slow and I'm already prepared for what's next.

Then, it happens. I feel a cold, aggressive hand wrap around my shoulder. Instantly, a shiny object is at my throat at a choking level. I'm already panicking when I realize that it has happened. Someone has found me. Somehow, I react with stillness. I'm no longer shaking. My intense fear remains, but I'm not longer showing it. I'm frozen in time. In what may be my last moments. I swallow my saliva as I feel cold breathing on my neck. Then, comes the outburst of laughter. The person holding me doesn't kill me right away. Instead he's holding onto me like a shield in front of my older brother, continuing in his laughter.

"What's wrong. Can't protect do anything about your little brother can you? Not a bad move. After all, make a move and his throat will be slit." He warns my brother. I'm actually about to piss myself. My brother is helpless to do anything to stop this boy from killing me. I imagine getting your throat slit open is painful. I cannot bear the thought of it. The idea of it. The concept of it horrifies me. And the fact that this... Is 99.9% possibly about to become a reality right here and right now. I want my brother to come in and save me. His presence makes me feel almost at home. It makes me feel invincible. However the sword at my throat reminds me that this isn't District 11. This isn't the house we live in together. This is no mans land. This is where children like me are sent to die for entertainment. For the amusement of those sick enough to enjoy it. For nothing.

I was sent here, into the 100th Hunger Games, to be slaughtered in the bloodbath. I was sent here to show that the past never forgives and never forgets. That even poor little Rue, the girl buried in a beautiful bloom of flowers to show how unjust the games were, could never escape. My dreams and hopes that I'd come home were just that, a dream. I come to accept this reality. I'm already imagining what'll happen after I die. I've been scared of it. Maybe there's a place where I'll meet Byke and Troy. I'll apologize if this happens.

I'm midway through this daydream when the sword gets pulled in closer towards me neck. I'm on the verge of just shutting down mentally.

"What's wrong? Not gonna cry for help? Beg? No resistance? Hm. Disappointing." The boy mocks into my ear. Through the rain, I look over at my brother. He's not showing much emotion. In fact, I notice that me mouths something the moment I looked up at him from the ground.

I believe it is something along the lines of "Stab him". I'm quick to remember I have a knife in hand. It's useless though. If I stabbed him, the boy would just quickly stab me. I could probably barely leave a mark. However looking back up, I see him mouthing something else. Seeing this though, I change. My body acts on its own and without hesitation, almost without knowing, I stab the boy. I believe I get him in the arm but that doesn't matter anyways because despite the screams of pain the boy transmits, the sword finds its way into me and the sword begins ripping through my neck. The pain is immense. Surging through me. However even as I hit the ground screaming, crying and tears running down my face... I realize something.

 _It didn't kill me..._

I look over at the boy during my panic. What the hell could this be about? How is it...

It only takes me a couple of seconds to realize what had happened. As my brother picks me up and pulls something out of his bag and I watch the other boy roll around in agony not to far away I come to the realization. Only a small part of my neck is in pain. The cut only runs a little bit before it stops. The sword is on the ground not too far away from the boy, my blood on it. It's here that I realize what exactly happened. My knife was doused in poison and Alma knew this. In fact, he probably planned it. My brother stands above me as he got out a medical kit.

"I was prepared for someone to enter the scene and hold my brother hostage like that. Even if little Altar died, he'd take you along with him. Funny isn't it." He tells the boy who is now dying, cursing my brother. I begin to understand. While I was asleep, my brother had probably put poison all over one of my knives and left it next to me just in case. Not bad, I'll admit.

My tears begin to slow as I think about this. _So... Am I not going to die?_ I'll admit, this has caught my by surprise. I begin to turn over towards my brother when suddenly I'm kicked in the back and knocked onto my belly. Suddenly, the boy is above me.

"T-This is nothing. A little bit of poison won't d-,"

 **"SPLISH"** Without even seeing what'd happened, everything has already been confirmed for me. The sound of a heavy object collapsing nearby reaches me ear. A small moan of pain coming from that direction. Afterwards, I hear a canon boom. It's confirmed. My brother drops onto his behind right next to me.

"That nearly got bad. I'm just glad you're okay, Alt." Alma says to me, rubbing my hair.

After a few seconds of my brother just resting, he pulls out a medical kit and wraps a bandage around my neck.

"This was the last sponsor item I had the chance to get my hands on. I've only had to use it once before." He tells me. I'm not very patched up but otherwise the bleeding has stopped. Sooner or later, the pain will stop being as bad as it is right now. We survived and that's all that matters.

"Odd... That boy's from 4." Alma says, looking at the boys jacket. I look up. He's correct. It's the same color as Monica's. Alma begins to frantically search around.

"But... I don't believe any more careers are here or anything. If they were... They'd just attack us now or something like that." He puts his hand on my shoulder, looking around. I swallow my saliva. Then again, that's the obvious strategy. They could still be out there still waiting for a different opportunity. I look up at Alma and I realize he has this exact same thought. It isn't too long afterwards that he picks me up and we begin rushing along towards the clearing he told me was around here. Were moving at such a pace we aren't even sure if we're the only ones around here or more people are moving around too. However I don't even bother checking. We're just running like a storm towards the clearing that's slowly growing and growing. Eventually we land ourselves in the circle of flowers where the trees surround us. It soon becomes clear that nobody is after us which I'm thankful for.

As we try and catch our breaths, I notice my brother looking over at me. He begins chuckling once he notices I've caught his gaze.

"Sorry about that gamble by the way." He breaths, "I'll be honest I wasn't sure whether or not you'd get through that or not. You know." He admitted, patting me on the back. Immediately after he says this, he collapses onto the ground beneath him. Despite my injury, I'm quick to spring up and make sure he's okay. However he pushes me back.

"Look. I'm good. Get yourself some damn rest. We're going to go hunting and traveling tomorrow." Hey says, tapping me on the forehead. I give him a confused look but shrug...

* * *

 **(Hours Pass...)**

* * *

The rain continues to get harder during my attempts to get some sleep. It's pretty bothersome. I look over at my brother. Despite the fact that he promised to stay up and guard us he looks to be asleep or somewhat half sleep. I give him the benefit of the doubt. Just looking over at him gives me a pain in my neck. He's done so much and honestly for very little. What purpose do I serve to him? I'm just a 12 year old. I can't win this. He can, for sure but like...

It gets me thinking back to Byke and Troy. There memories have been guiding me like stars. Well, they're as good of guides as they probably would've been in real life. It's pushed me in circles over and over. The pain. The Agony. The Tears. The Fear that's come with it all. But for the first time, I feel myself becoming frustrated with their deaths. This outward annoyance seems to be at everything. Byke and Troy for being so helpless. For letting themselves go down like fools. Anger at Monica. For not doing something right away. Ceres and her friend, for hurting a bunch of 12 year olds. However they all seem to segway into one common anger. Towards the Capitol and the whole concept of the Hunger Games. For killing children. For killing children for what I consider nothing important, at least anymore. For quieting voices. The voices of children who could have made a difference in the world as we know it. For silencing the voices of those two, my friends. Their laughter. Their cries. They'll forever be forgotten. Just another name on the list of those who died for the cause of the Capitol. For nothing basically.

However I stand up with a thought.

 _Maybe not. At least if I win. I'll make sure EVERYONE remembers there names!_ I look skyward, rain pelting my face as I do.

"You will know there names." I mouth. I take a deep breath, having vented these feelings out in the most appropriate way ever. Though I'm quick to remember that winning the Hunger Games are better said then done. I recall all of the tributes I considered troublesome while we were training.

The District 1 pair, District 2 boy, District 4 boy as well as Ceres and the girl from 10. Bella or something?

A gut feeling engulfs my stomach. Again with my dread. I pray at some point all of these fools come in and take each other out. The ones I really want removed are Ceres and that Bella girl. They're too much. They did in the majority of the careers themselves. Me and Alma would NEVER be able to handle them on their own. I just know it. I bite thumb.

 _Darn it darn it darn it darn it..._

The thoughts begin to cloud my head, exhausting me. _I just know it. I need some rest..._

* * *

 **(Far, Far later...)**

* * *

The morning of the 11th day began well for us. For one, my neck wound isn't too bad anymore meaning I can actually talk again. We both awoke and despite the continuing heavy rain we both turned our attention towards food. Of course, no thanks to the ongoing rainstorm; me and Alma used rain as our replenishable water source. I even left my water container open over night to see if it'd fill up enough. It didn't fill completely but personally I'm satisfied with the results. Food has been a lot scarcer. I kind of wished I had taken and eaten that mutt I murdered a few days ago. After all, it was probably some good meat. However when I bring this up to Alma he reminds me I literally have no idea how to cook.

"I love how out of all of the garbage your brain happens to have installed it never considered picking up the making raw meat good meat part. Then again you spent all your days in training watching fire." Alma jokes. I give a less than amused look back at him as we trek the former forest, of which have become a wetland.

Eventually we run out of things to talk about once more, making our journey a little more quiet and awkward. Then again, silence is needed in order to hunt. Little sad neither me nor Altar have any experience with hunting. A bunch of farm boys wouldn't know how to find and kill animals would they? Of course not. I open my mouth to yawn when suddenly my brother covers my mouth. Looking up at him, I see him shaking his head.

 _Something nearby? An animal? A tribute? Oh dear. Oh dear the possibilities._

Thankfully though, when I notice the deer poking its head out of the rocks I find myself relieved. Alma makes a motion. A throwing motion. In response I hand him a knife. However he's quick to hand it back to me. He puts his hands in the air before pointing at the animal that's seemingly waiting for us to strike. It's clear now. I'm better with knives than he is so if we're after food, I'm going to have to be the one to kill it. I don't mind, though I hate having to take on such responsibility. Despite this though, I take the knife with earnest and quietly make my way towards the deer. Eventually, I get in a good range.

 _Concentrate..._

It looks at me. But it doesn't run. It just stares directly at me...

 _Breathe..._

As I pull the knife back, our eyes clash. Eyes... Eyes seemingly filled with curiosity. Innocence and a lack of knowledge of the danger it is in... Those cold... brown eyes...

 _Release..._

Even before the sound of my knife striking the deer and its crying in pain register in my ears I've collapsed onto the wet ground beneath me. Panicking. Hyperventilating. Screaming. My brother is quick to jump to my aid. For a moment he's checking me, making sure I haven't been hit with anything but then he realizes what's wrong with me.

"Come on Alt. It'll be okay. It'll be okay little Alt. It's just a deer."

"That wasn't just a deer!" I cry. "I saw them! ISAWMYFRIENDSEYESITWAS-," My words quickly begin slurring together in a mess of distressed 12 year old emotion before they all fade together falling back into a pattern of me screaming and ventilating fearfully.  
All at once though, I stop. Once again, I collapse onto the floor. This time, just tired. However, I feel an embrace. One from my brother. He hugs me tightly.

"It's going to be okay Alt. I'll send you back to Momma. Don't worry." He rubs my head. I'm still shaking as he tries to comfort me.

"I... I wanna go home." I say, though I didn't really intend to say this to Alma. My brain feels so lightheaded that I said that instinctive. But it's true. I wanna go back to the place I was familiar with. The one where my mother was there to protect me...

Eventually Alma gets me back to my feet. Looking up, I'm surprised that the one knife I threw was enough to kill the deer.

"I'll go collect it. I'm going to need to tear it apart though if we're going to carry its meat until we can cook it." Alma tells me, walking over to its body. I watch on, my panic attack having not left my mind. I still wonder if it was just me overreacting, but the look the animal gave me was too familiar. A sense of innocence came from it. Reminding me of my friends.

Eventually Alma finishes whatever he was doing and he motions me to follow in his direction. So again we begin trecking through the wetlands. Conversation between us both is sparse now. Half because my conscious doesn't even know where to go anymore following me sudden panic attack and half because I assume he just wants me to have some time for myself. I assume the rest of our journey is going to go something like this, however unexpectedly he begins to talk again.

"I've been curious for a while. You survived on your own for some time right?" He asks me. I look up at him, unsure why he'd bother asking me about the aftermath of the death of Troy and Byke.

"Why?" Is the only response I give him. He shrugs.

"Honestly, I just wanted to know what you did all by yourself and how you do it?" He pats me on the back. "I know it wasn't easy you know, being all alone the way you were. Through that though, you stood on both feet and ran through hell and no matter what things you did I'll admit, I'm proud of you Alt." He says. Part of me feels my heart warming in response but the other causes me to roll my eyes. Why is he so focused on how I'm still alive.

The only response I give him is a simple 'whatever' and we look forward.

 _I can't believe it's nearly been two weeks..._

* * *

 **District 1 Male**

 **District 1 Female**

 **District 2 Male**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Female (Circa)**

 **District 9 Male (Bran)**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 9 Female**

 **District 10 Female (Bella)**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 11 Male (Alma)**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**

* * *

 _I'm back again with another chapter. That's all. Good day._


	23. Dissolution (Day 14-15)

I never understood why I bothered keeping track of the days that went by in the arena. I could've focused on many, MANY other things. Keeping myself perfectly fed and staying hydrated. Both of which I did but at an inconsistent pace inbetween gasps of air and long daydreams of the days gone by.

As far as I know, it's the 14th day in the arena. Not much has changed since Alma caught up with me. We've been moving around and eating what we have to keep our energy up. There haven't been any deaths since my brother killed the District 4 boy. Since there are less of us, I can see why nothing has been going on. But still, I wish the tribute list would go down though. For a moment after I say this though, I feel guilty about the thought as this means I'm hoping for the death of other kids. I shake my head.

I decide to move my thoughts elsewhere. Soon, my head is filled with fantasies about winning the games and coming home to my mom. She'll have tears in her eyes, thankful that her son came out of the games alive and what not. I look over at my older brother. He's been quiet since we began moving yesterday.

"Actually... Hey, Alt. I'm gonna go... ya know. Behind that tree. I'll be right back." He quickly tells me. I nod, understanding that he has to go to the bathroom so I just sit down in front of another tree. I'm only alone for a few seconds but I'm quickly reminded of the loneliness I felt all the days ago when I was roaming the arena for 3 days. Days that felt like months if I'm going to be honest. I think for a moment, and eventually pull out a knife from my bag. I don't know whether to be shocked or happy that I haven't gone dry out of knives. I take a few moments to peak into my bag again and count off the amount I have.

Looking into it, I have a few more but if I'm not careful I'll probably run them out. I roll my eyes. _Well..._

I zip my backpack back up and yawn. It already seems to be getting late. Probably like... 4? 5? The sun isn't setting but it's on the verge of going down. As I question the time some more, I notice a few birds flying upwards. Almost as if they were flying away from something. Despite having no clue, I pull out my knife and hold my breath. I know I'm being a little paranoid. There isn't even any sound coming from that direction anyways. But despite feeling this way my paranoia gets the better of me and I start walking backwards. The sound of more birds catches me off guard, as now they're coming from the direction behind me. I sigh.

 _I should stop being such a paranoid loser..._

I tuck my knife away in my pocket and look up at the now white pink sky. It's at this moment that I begin to hear heavy, fast footsteps. Running, no, charging in my direction from the left. I begin to take my knife out again but being in my pocket, I take forever to pull the darn thing out. By the time I almost have it completely out, I've been tackled to the floor, a knife is at my throat and someone is breathing heavily in my face. I should be surprised that I'm not panicking right away but it takes my brain getting a good look at this tributes face that my heart is shifted into overdrive. He's looks only a little different than he did all those days ago. He's got a few scars on his face, notably one that tears through the right side of his face but otherwise the boy from 9 is looking pretty pissed like he was last time I saw him.

"I caught him." He turns his head over to the right. I'm unable to see, but I hear voices all talking at once coming from that direction. The sound of shrubs moving makes it obvious that more than one person is with him now. I could've sworn the boy from 5 died last time we were in the same area...

"Good. Let's hurry up and take him out." The voice of a female draws near. This girl gets behind the 9 boy and pushes him off me. It's here that I see. The 9 boy met up with the other 9 and 5 alliance members. I was hoping they all would've been taken out by now as a big alliance like them would be a huge thorn in the neck but it seems they just kept going on. There seems to be one girl from 9 and another boy from 9 here too. The girl on top of me is from 5 it seems.

"What the heck do you want from me?" I cry out. I mean for it to be a very aggressive cry but it comes out as panicked instead. Even then, this question upsets the scar faced 9 boy who kicks my head in anger.

"Don't play dumb! You know why we're here!" He shouts at me. To be honest, he isn't wrong. I'm probably one of the only people currently in the Capitol to know that they're rebels here to sabotage the games as terrorist act. I have nothing against it aside from the fact that I know it won't work, but because I know that fact they need me dead. It's not like I plan on spilling those facts, but I completely understand why they'd wanna take me out as a precaution. However I know just as well that this doesn't mean I'm gonna allow them to kill me. But on the flipside I don't even know how to combat a girl with her shoe on my small chest. My mind then moves to my older brother. He said he'd be going to pee but he hasn't come back for quite some time. Because of that, I assume he's hiding in the bushes coming up with a strategy. As such, I choose my words wisely.

"Honestly you should be ashamed you actually just let him run away last time you were with him, Bran." The girl from 9 looks over at the boy from 9. Bran seems to be his name. I must've forgotten it.

"Well would you have expected such a kid to survive against all of those mutts?" He argues back. I hold back a smirk as he says this because it goes to show how much I've been underestimated in the games. I find it quite funny. I'm fast to push these thoughts back as my situation hastens.

I notice the kids and their weapons. Bran has a sickle. The other boy from 9 has a knife. The girl has a sword, but the girl from 5 has nothing. It's too early to make the assumption that my brother could take them all but it's in my best interest to hope he could.

The girl from 4 pushes downwards on my chest with her foot causing me to lose all the air in my system.

"I'm curious 11? Know any more about us?" She asks. I don't make eye contact, instead looking away in defiance. I honestly don't know much other than the fact that they have a plan.

"No." I tell them.

The girl then grabs my shirt and pulls my up, now aggravated.

"I don't exactly buy that." She then punches me in the nose, knocking me back and into a tree. Blood squirts out of my nostrils as I hit the floor.

Then comes a squeaker, more quiet voice. "You know... Why don't we have him join us?" The girl from 5 asks. All of the others look over at her and give an annoyed glance.

"And why would we allow him to do that?" Bran asks her. The girl from 5 scratches her head before pulling the 9 girl back.

"Well we clearly have no idea whether or not he's with us or against us, but considering he's just a child..." She begins.

"Ugh! You're such an moron Volva" The 9 girl calls her out before shoving her. Volva steps back, feeling quieted.

"She has a point. He could've sold us out a long time ago if he wanted. If he's known for as long as he has at least." The other boy from 9 begins to argue.

"Ugh, now you too Kona?" Bran then sighs, now starting to understand where his teamates are coming from. "Alright. I guess you've got a point. But even then wouldn't it just be better to close his mouth than feeding him more. He's a fucking 12 year old, he's not getting too far on his own." He continues to argue despite that though.

"Just a 12 year old? We've been in these games for 14 days and this kids been running around like this is a field trip. Somethings not right with the boy. That's what's concerning me." The 9 girl points at me.

"Well he's probably been in a few alliances or something. It'd make sense that he'd leach off of others. And even if that isn't true, he won't be able to stab us in the back. I'm 100% confident in that." Kona says, his voice slowly but shortly getting more angered. She

The group goes silent after he finishes, giving them time to think on it. Finally, the girl from 9 speaks up again. She's a lot quieter now but I can hear the hate in her voice.

"Why are you two so keen on protecting this kid." She sighs. Out of nowhere she throws her sword at my legs. It misses me but I still flinch. "It'd be better if we just kill him now and forget him." She relays to her allies.

"Look. I know, but again, it isn't like he's had any plans of spreading any word about our plans for the games. And hey our end game plan is pretty risky. Wouldn't it be worth having one more fighter to help us. We'll need all the help we can get." The Kona kid argues. After this he closes his eyes.

"Come on. He's just a kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is low." He tells them.

As he silences, the whole area becomes silent aside from the chirping of birds and cricket noises that pop in every now and then.

"Maybe you've got a point... I guess we were a little... rash." The girl from 9 admits, only looking partially guilty.

"Whatever. I still don't trust him." Bran sighs. The others ignore him and lift me to my feet.

"You're gonna join us. You're going to help us with the plan." Kona tells me. "Oh god, sorry about your nose. That... oh..." He apologizes noticing my bleeding right nostril. It stings, but I try my hardest to ignore it. I speak up, and just like my situation when I first met Monica, my voice seems to come out more innocent and young then I want it to be. Well after that, I accept his apology.

For a few moments we're all standing around in the darkness of the shady forest silently, when out of nowhere we all catch wind of loud crashing sounds alongside the yelling of some girl. I believe I recognize it for a moment but I'm quickly pulled away by the 9 and 5 alliance.

"Hurry! We're pretty low on numbers. No need to waste our lives right away." And as suddenly as we'd found ourselves crossing paths, I'm dragged away from the safety of my older brother.

My heart is racing. I want to shout out for my brothers help but I was sure he'd have a plan to protect me and to get me out alive but it seems he isn't.

 _Oh god! So is he the one fighting off in the distance!_

I want to stop and run in that direction but I know doing so wouldn't work. The alliance would just catch and kill me. I'm lucky these kids are even allowing me to be apart of their group.

 _Then again I don't even know if they aren't just planning on using me as a shield like last time._

I hold back tears, horrified that I don't even get the opportunity to be with my brother until death but I keep those tears at bay.

 _Alma... I'm so sorry..._

* * *

As the Panem Anthem blasts through the entire arena I look up, wondering if the little skirmish we evaded ended with any deaths and if that death was Alma.

"Fourteen days and were not even that close to being done..." I groan, looking up at the fake sky.

"You've been keeping up with the days too? That's good." Volva smiles in my direction for whatever reason. I didn't realize counting off the days we've been alive was any accomplishment to any other tribute but I guess that's the case here in the 100th Hunger Games. I eventually respond.

"Yeah." Is all I muster. The fact that I was taken away from my brother still hasn't exited my mind. Honestly for much of the night its been all I've been thinking about. Now that I know he's officially alive, I'm 99% sure he's looking for a way to get me back...

I notice Volva is still looking my way. "You look sad-, I mean... Uh..." She shakes her head. I feel annoyed. Of course I'm sad, I'm in the middle of the Hunger Games. However I ignore that thought. At least she realized this immediately after saying this and backpedaled.

"Well... I can understand why. So much must've happened to you on top of my friends trying to... you know, kill you. Sorry about that it's just that... You know." And she continues to run her mouth on and on about how sorry she is for me. Honestly I can understand why but this apology isn't really needed. I accept of course and then lay on the ground.

When I lay down I end up noticing the boy from 9 who gives me a little glare. Considering my anger has been building up for quite a while I end up saying something without even really thinking.

And for the first time I feel like I sound a little older for once. "What? Think I'm going to run off or something 9 boy?" I say that last part mockingly. Bran just turns his head.

"I doubt you could. You may have said you could've gotten away from me a week ago but you're just talk." He claims. I reiterate what he says in a mocking tone before glaring.

"Turn you face the other way. I have nothing against you, like at all. Go do your stupid little stunt and win or whatever. I don't care."

"You know I only agreed to this because of one little detail." Bran squats down next to me, looking down on me.

"And what's that?" I ask him. He takes a deep breath.

"Info on the girl from your district and the girl from 10. I hear they're together and potentially dangerous. Any idea on what they're like?" He asks me. This causes my stomach to not instantly. Despite the danger they are, I've been forgetting that they're around at all. Ceres, my district partner and one of the most horrifying, cruel, twisted people I've ever met. At best, she's a rude, cynical little jerk with no concern for others. Give her a weapon, she's dangerous. A killer. On the flipside I don't know Bella all that much but from what I've seen in both training and the day she went ahead and killed my friends... I know she ain't any better.

I swallow my saliva and take a deep breath, trying to bring myself to say it. I explain to Bran that it's likely that they were the ones who took out the careers in the arena we both started in, alongside the fact that she killed a majority of the people I were in an alliance with. I didn't go into too much detail about Bella since I still don't know much about her but I gave him a good idea what to watch out for including her weapon and how she fought against Monica.

"Huh... The 4 girl is still alive... And against those two..." I can tell Bran is at a loss for words. Both on the skill that Ceres and Bella show but on top of that, Monica managing to hold both of them off herself. She's pretty tough for a non-career, I'll give her that. For sure. This kind of makes me curious though... I actually wonder where she is. She's alive, I know that. But I haven't seen her. The whole mess with Byke and Troy has left me in a broken state, god knows what it did to Monica. Her being the girl who wanted to protect us to the end and all.

I sit up as Bran relays this information to the currently awake allies. Of course, this is everyone aside from Volva who passed out a while ago.

"We should stay clear of the 4 girl though. She may have something up her sleeve, we can't trust her or let her into the alliance. After all, she's from the career district. For all we know... You know..." He turns to the side. I can assume he means she could be a Capitol spy but I completely doubt that. Bran is just paranoid as all heck. But that causes me to become curious. He spent a large amount of time chasing me down fearing I'd be the death of this alliance, what could've caused him to become to paranoid.

Eventually as the rest of the members start to fall asleep one by one leaving just me and Bran, I actually get myself to ask him. He shrugs and then looks up at the stars in the sky.

"Look kid, the best answer I can give you is to remember the 99th Hunger Games okay. That's all." He tells me. I just take that, as I know he isn't going to give me anything else. Putting the puzzle pieces together I see where he's coming from. Last year, there was a huge lower district alliance that resulted in pretty much a death every day. Each new one coming from either a mutt or some sort of arena event. It was horrific, though I'm pretty sure the Capitolites ate all of that up considering the amount of carnage they'd see. I lay back down on the ground.

By the time I accidentally ran into Bran and the 5 boy on the 5th day, everyone other alliance member had died. Eventually, so did the 5 boy. I guess that could be another understandable reason for his paranoia. Chances are, he could be next. Now with the rest of the members all together he could see the gamemakers pulling a repeat of the 99th Hunger Games.

"Okay, I see then." I say.

"Why don't you just sleep already. I'm the one who's going to watch us." He tells me. I tell him that it takes a while for me to sleep and not to worry about it which he nods his head to but I doubt he really believes that.

Night time passes by and soon enough the sun would begin to rear its head by. Of course, I only got roughly an hour of sleep and honestly I didn't even notice. I spent the entire night looking at the stars for no good reason. I also noticed Bran fell victim to exhaustion and so he fell asleep at the midway point. I did wake him up a few times since he probably wanted that but he kept going back to sleep. If he gets mad at me, he's got no one to blame but himself.

The girl from 9 is the first to wake up out of the group. She's surprised I was already up.

"How long have you been up?" She asks me. I give her an idea of how long I was up which makes her even morose surprised.

"I swear, someday you'll be the death of all of us. Don't try and pull and funny business next time. I'll be the one to kill you." She says aggressively. I sit back against a tree and sigh. She reminds me of Ceres when we hadn't been in the games. Though in this girls case she isn't sadistic or anything like that.

Anyways, eventually the other kids in the alliance begin to wake up. They don't really say much for the most part. Well, aside from Bran who's annoyed that I apparently didn't wake him up. I'm quick to remind him that he kept going back to sleep which he denies of course. To my surprise though, the others assume I'm in the right for once. Guess this isn't the first time anything like this has happened. After a few minutes of stretching and getting an idea of the current situation, the others begin packing their stuff up. As they do, Volva silently moves over to me.

"By the way? Didn't you have a brother? Have you found him yet?" She gets in my face. I squirm. I wasn't really counting on anyone to bring up my brother at all.

"No actually. The arena's so huge, I doubt I'll ever catch up to him at all." I make up a lie. To be fair, it was very coincidental that I ran into my brother at all in the games. Putting the size of the arena into consideration it should've been a 1/100 chance, but hey I guess I got real lucky.

"Maybe we can help you find him..." Volva kindly says to me. I tilt my head out of confusion.

"Yeah. Right. He'll cause us even _more_ problems. The last thing we need is a lunatic like him taking us out to get his little brother back. And with everything he knows I'm no comfortable having him out of our site." The girl from 9 argues.

In response, the other boy from 9 gives a sigh. "You're too paranoid Zina. He's just a 12 year old." He tells her.

"12 year olds usually have quite big mouths. I'd hate for everything to go to shit because of just one boy, Kona." She shoves the other 9 boy. Kona in response only gives an eye roll.

After packing up, we all head out together as a group. Where to? I don't know. I imagine we're just running around assuming staying in one place will result in our end sooner or later.

"We're like a pack of sharks. We gotta keep moving on and on. If we stop, eventually we'll all come crashing down. We don't want that." Kona says to me. I listen closely, though honestly I have no idea what the heck a shark is but I assume these sharks can't stay still at all. I just nod at him like an obedient child. On the inside my heart starts to race again. My thoughts move at an unprecedented rate. It's my curiosity and my paranoia. Where the heck are we going and why are we going there? Where's my brother? Why hasn't he found me? He can't be dead so what could he be doing at the moment that's preventing him from catching up to me again? It almost makes me wanna cry again. However I'm quick to push the thought of my brother away and continue looking forward with the group.

I can only really hope for the best as I'm dragged on an adventure I had no consent to. Though to be fair, the whole games have been that for me. As I look on ahead... I'm kinda of reminded of Monica, Byke and Troy. Or... Maybe having a few more older siblings. All with their own secrets. I can assume that's why they lash out at me and the world around them.

 _I wonder what happens in places like District 5 or 9 for kids to be like this..._

* * *

 _ **(Some Time Later...)**_

* * *

Hours upon hours of walking has taken a toll on our group. We've found ourselves outside of the familiar forest area we've all come to know and into a rocky wasteland. No trees in sight anymore. I'm curious as to where this part of the arena was...

On top of the lack of trees, there is also a lack of wildlife. Plants, animals. None of that. Nothing seems to wanna be in this area. It just makes everything more eerie.

"Fuck. It seems the sky is darkening up again. Another storm is coming." Bran grits his teeth as he looks up at the sky.

"Hope to god it isn't as bad as the last one..." Kona's head falls a little, worried. He looks over at me. "It makes me question. How did a kid like you survive such a horrible storm?" He asks me. My eyes widen a little, not expecting to be asked a question.

"Uh... I... I-I hid in the Cornucopia." I explain quickly. Everyone looks at me.

"Huh. Nobody was hanging around there?" Zina looks at me like I'm making up a fable. "Yeah. Since the careers were all wiped out early into the games. Since all the supplies emptied quickly, nobody bothered hanging around the cornucopia. I was already in that area so I just hung out there." I explain to them.

"Oooh. That makes sense." Kona nods. Bran rolls his eyes. "So that's where you went to after we were attacked by those mutts. I expected you to die back there." He tells me.

"Yeah but it turns out climbing the trees was actually a good idea." I remind him of when we made our escape. He shrugs.

"Whatever. I'm still alive so maybe just running away was a far greater plan in itself. Maybe pretending to be a Monkey isn't all that important." He jokes.

After this we fall into silence again. I guess after all that walking our brains needed to rest too. Not gonna lie, I'm tired of thinking as well.

Suddenly, the sound of crows flying above our heads catch our attention. It didn't seem like they were there before. I get up to my feet feeling threatened.

"What's your problem? There just a bunch of birds. You're acting like you're staring at ghosts." Kona laughs. I sit back down and apologize. Of course, I know the reason it caught me off guard. Bad memories...

Suddenly my thoughts are interrupted by a unusually loud but horrific sound.

"GUYS WATCH OUT!" Bran shouts as he points directly behind us. In the direction he's pointing is, is another mutt. This one being a large horned creature, steam coming out of its nose.

"It's a ram!" Zina shouts. Everyone else quickly grab there stuff and jump up before running off. I look all around before I eventually spot the mutt. It's aggressively charging in my direction.

"Crap!" I shout before I'm swiftly pulled out of its way by Kona. "Watch out!" He shouts at me as it rushes right past us. Zina is able to dodge the RAM and she rolls in our direction. The ram turns itself around and begins charging at us again.

"It's just like last year. Damn the gamemakers." Bran clenches his fist. Volva rushes behind me and puts her hands on my shoulders.

"I'll protect you." She whispers to me. Her saying this completely takes me out of my fear, making me look up at her. With my thoughts moving too quickly all I can do is give her a node. I'm inclined to grab my packet of throwing knives but I know I'll need to do it at a perfect opportunity, of course now not being that time.

"Zina and I will take care of this. You guys go on ahead." Bran steps forwards before assuring us calmly that he and Zina will be okay. Hesitantly, Volva nods. Kona doesn't even know how to react from the looks of it.

"I-I don't know-," He begins before he's quickly cut off by Zina.

"Kona! We need somebody... ANYBODY to get to the end. Just please!" She begs him to shut up. She closes her eyes before drawing her sword and opening them again.

"We'll catch up. That's a promise." She tells us. The ram then begins to angrily charge at the two who prepare to fight it off. We take off in the opposite direction, hoping that we'll be out of sight.

I take one look back and see that Zina and Bran are both doing an okay job fighting against the mutt.

"Don't bother looking back. I doubt they'll hold on much longer. It's best to bid our time." Kona suggests as I look ahead again. Volva shakes her head however.

"No... They'll take care of it. I just..." She stops herself. Kona groans.

"You're too naive Volva. That's a fact. Get real..." He says as we continue to run through the rocky roads ahead...

* * *

 _ **Currently Living Tributes**_

 **District 1 Male**

 **District 1 Female**

 **District 2 Male**

 **District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **District 5 Female (Circa)**

 **District 9 Male (Bran)**

 **District 9 Male**

 **District 9 Female**

 **District 10 Female (Bella)**

 **District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **District 11 Male (Alma)**

 **District 11 Female (Ceres)**

* * *

 **Sudden change of pace here. Altar has been forcibly recruited into the District 5/9 alliance due to his knowledge on their rebellion plan. Came up with the idea last second. Anyways, I'll see you all next time.**

 **(Also I was re-reading some older chapters and** **Jesus** **. I really loved asking for reviews back then...)**


	24. Journey (Day 16)

Night 15 was yet again, another long and painful night. For once, I managed to get some actual sleep but this came with another nightmare. Probably my 6th or so since I've been in the Capital which is hard to believe because as far as I know, it feels like I've had one every day.

The dream really just involved me chasing after my brother who just kept on running and running and running and eventually leaving me behind alone to cry.

I woke up not crying which was good, but this cloud of sadness hung over me the rest of the night. My body refused to get comfortable on the cold ground which only got worse when once again it began to rain. Despite our jackets being fitted with something that keeps us warm through the games, my body is slowly swallowed up by the cold. I'm shivering like a mad man and I miss the heat that the Capital had in it's buildings. What I'd give to be in a warm room right now and not suffering in the Hunger Games...

 _When will I just freaking die..._

Though as the morning sun begins to rise, so do my quote on quote allies. I'm quickly reminded of how much I don't wanna be around these two despite the fact that they seem to wanna protect me. I felt much safer around my older brother...

Out of nowhere, we hear Cirivins calm but booming voice echo throughout the arena.

 **"Good morning remaining tributes of the 100th Hunger Games. Congratulations on making it this far. Due to popular demand, everyone in the arena is allowed one more sponsor item whether or not they have their partner around or not."**

For a moment, I have to register what was just said. I take a moment to fully grasp what was just phrased.

 _"One more sponsor item whether or not they have a partner or not"_

It takes a while but the two start to wake up. At this point, I'm struggling to withhold this information so immediately when Kona starts to yawn and get up I'm practically screaming at him about the news. However to my utter shock her barely reacts. Instead, he doesn't even look surprised at all. Though when he explains why he isn't surprised I guess I shouldn't be either.

"After all. I doubt the people in the Capitol wouldn't stand for this for much longer. Despite there being so little tributes a lot of them are tough in their own right so the people betting on tributes may wanna give some sort of edge to their hopefuls." Kona explained to me.

I give a nod, understanding. Though that makes me question whether or not anyone is going to sponsor me. Though I doubt that. I'm a child, not exactly a good fighter. I'm not ignoring how I have some knowledge of knife throwing and how luck has bailed me out of a majority of the situations I've wandered into but that isn't exactly something people would wanna bet on.

However I know that I'll be getting an item anyways. This counter career group has likely gained enough attention to have some sponsors lining up to get up an item. Though I can assume this will be a while.

"Anyways... What's your next move?" I ask Kona. He scratches the little stubble under his chin and looks around us.

"I guess we just wait for Zina and Bran to catch up with us." Kona says, looking towards the direction we moved from last night. I can understand what he's thinking from the way he stares in that direction. Whether or not his allies survived the fight with the mutt the previous night. I've been questioning that as well. I don't recall hearing any canons as we were moving or when we had stopped. It's likely that they're alive which does warm my heart a little. immediately though I question my thought process considering I wasn't a fan of either tributes. I look over at the 5 girl who is now starting to wake up. I believe her name is Volva. She was really protective of me yesterday despite the fact that we had never met before this time. I found that oddly weird. It reminds me a lot of Monica or my older brother, just if they were both less violent.

I found it oddly uncomfortable. However I chalk it up to her probably having siblings and me reminding her of them back at home. That was the case with Monica when I still knew her.

It's at this moment I remember that it's the 16th day in the arena meaning it's been over a week since I last saw Monica. It feels just like yesterday. It's also here that I realize how long the games have been going on and how long I've been alive however after thinking this I quickly wipe this thought from my mind.

"What'd I miss?" Volva asks. Me and Kona both turn around at once and together we both bring her up to speed about the return of sponsorship items.

"Hm. I guess that was to be expected." She responds sounding very disappointed. Probably because this also means that the other tributes we'll have to look out for will also have better weapons if we come across them. I hope that won't be the case but it's highly possible. I'm fully aware of my current position in the arena, me definitely being nothing compared to the larger tributes in the arena. Then we have my "comrades". I'm unsure how Kona would do in a situation where we'd have to fight larger tributes. It's clear that Bran and Zina were the ones who did most of the work but without them I'm unsure how we're going to handle any dangerous situation. Volva... Hm... She seems almost as useless as I am. I'm probably right to think that too. I shake my head though. I don't wanna be too judgmental but that anxiety that something dangerous is right around the corner haunts me for the next few hours.

Those hours are spent sitting around doing absolutely nothing aside from the annual conversation that happens before promptly being dropped after a few minutes. Otherwise we're all just sitting around doing nothing. Quite odd considering how yesterday Kona had said something along the lines about how they group is supposed to move around all the time. Though coincidentally as I'm reminded of this Kona stands up and tells us that we should just get moving.

"Where are we going to head?" Volva begins to stand up as Kona looks up at the darkening sky.

"Back to where we came from yesterday. If Bran and Zina aren't coming here they may be in that area." He tells us.

"Yeah but are you sure they didn't die?" I question him. Immediately though, I regret having said that. For the first time since we crossed paths yesterday he gives me an angry look.

"I know them well enough to know that they aren't going to go out so easily. Even if one of them died I bet the other is still okay. Grab your things guys, it'll be a long walk." He orders me and Volva to get a move on. We both do so quickly and begin hiking back to the area where we last saw Bran and Zina. I don't argue why we need to find them as quickly as we do but I'm still mixed on the matter. Then again, it'd make things much easier on the group if our toughest members were with us.

Long story short we begin moving back into the direction we had come from the previous day. The trip back ends up being longer than I remember. Probably because a lot of the journey was spent with us moving along in silence; well of course there was no reason to spend the journey talking like we're not in the middle of a series of death games.

It takes a long time but we soon find ourselves in a familiar spot. The same place we had to leave our allies behind in. It's as we'd seen it last time. Barren. Absolutely nothing in this area with no exceptions. Or, that's what I had been thinking when we arrived in the area. Eventually, we all found what they had come for. Their comrades were both laying around next to each other, though it was quite unclear whether or not they were dead or alive. Kona and Volva quickly scampered over to the bodies of their allies, screaming out if they were okay or not. From all the way where I stood, I could hear someone groaning. At least one of them was alive. Honestly upon realizing this I felt relief on the inside, but this relief was quickly replaced with a mixed feeling. Again, I still wasn't comfortable with the others. I'd prefer surviving with just my older brother but I cannot help myself. I definitely feel concerned over the state of the kids from 9 and so I find myself rushing over to them as well. I'm quick to figure out that the moans that assured us that somebody was okay had come from Zina. When I started walking towards her she seemed fine, but I soon noticed that somebody that her pant leg was rolled up, where a cloth that seemed to have been torn off of the arena jackets was wrapped around her leg. From working back in 11, I already knew she was likely bleeding there. But for so much cloth to be put there... goodness I couldn't even begin to imagine what happened.

"W-What happened here?" I asked, almost hesitant to even get the details. Zina seemed to swallow the pain for a while and started to play off this injury.

"Nothing big. I was bitten by the Ram that attacked us last night. Bran managed to tear off a piece of his jacket and wrapped it around my leg. Surprised he didn't just leave me to die. I mean... if he did..." When she got to the topic of Bran her speech slowed and eventually she turned her head to the boy.

Bran was unconscious, or it seemed. My heart rate picked up.

"Bran... Please... Please don't tell me he's actually-," Volva started, her breath coming off as panicked.

"No. It doesn't seem like he's dead. He's still got a pulse after all. Check it." Kona said, pointing at his neck where Volva checked. She gave a literal sigh of relief before weeping a little. Though in an instant after this she wipes away her tears and pretends she never did that.

"It'd be redundant to say that I'm thankful you're both alive and well, but still I am." Kona sighed.

"How did you even take out that beast anyways?" I ask. Zina sits up a little. She looks over at Brans unconscious body.

"It was a battle of attrition. We both had to wear him down and from there we needed to continuously cut down the bastard until we he died. It took us hours to do that so I can't exactly blame Bran for falling out afterwards " I could set smile slowly creeping up on her face.

"What an idiot huh." She chuckled. Kona walked over to Bran and picked him up for a piggyback. Volva squatted by Zina and asked whether or not she needed help which Zina agreed to. She also picked up Zina for a piggyback. Soon we were back on our way again...

* * *

 _ **Time Passes...**_

* * *

The five of us had started heading for the biggest peak in the arena. The giant volcano on the other side of the arena. However into our trip Volva made an observation regarding the quick darkening of the clouds. Storm clouds seem to have gathered once more and soon we'd be in for another, possibly larger storm.

Since I was only recently forced to join up with the counter alliance of 5 and 9 tributes I didn't really know where we were planning on going to try out the "master plan" it seemed they were going to do. By that, I mean blow out the arena walls to prove a point. I'd kept it out of my mind for a while but I was starting to wonder where this was going to happen. However I started to notice the direction we were heading. Towards a part of the arena I had paid very little mind to. The other arena in which the games were forged and specifically towards its tallest peak. A giant volcano laid on what was perhaps the furthest point of the arena. It was gonna be a long journey that Altar was not looking forward to...

But something else was also at the forefront of my mind. The sky. The sky had been rapidly changing over the week. At the end of the first week for the games there was a large, disastrous storm. I managed to safely hide away in the cornucopia for a few days while it passed and I'm sure a majority of the other tributes managed to find some shelter or just ride it out just fine despite the intensity. Though considering the color of the clouds now I'm curious. There's a chance that maybe that storm was nothing more than a warning shot. I suddenly feel my body chilling up and I rub my arms, starting to feel uncomfortable just considering that idea. Of course, Volva turns and notices me react to what is seemingly nothing so she's quick to ask what's up with me. I take a deep breath.

"So I have reason to believe another storm is heading our way." I say quietly.

"Oh you don't say." Zina fires back at me quickly. She assures me that everyone can already tell and I'm just wasting their time reminding them it's coming. However this reaction seems to annoy Volva and she gets definitely the most aggravated I've seen her.

"Okay then Zina, what're we gonna do about it then?" She asks her. Zina for a while doesn't seem to know how to react but then she just scoffs. "Forget it. Storms happened back in 9 so I think we'll be good in this one." She says, reminding me she happened to be one of the tributes who wasn't around when the first storm hit, or that was the impression I was getting.

"9, you saw the last storm didn't you?" I question her. She gives a breath and then just shakes her head.

"Well not exactly. We hadn't entered this part of the arena yet but we got some storm there too and it wasn't too bad." She tells us.

"Well it wasn't like that over on our side of the arena. I betcha if your buddy Bran was awake he'd tell you how we're likely in a bad situation." I argue. I expect Zina to disagree with me again but she seems to go quiet.

"Hm... Look, I don't necessarily care what you have to say 11 but I'll admit, if there's a chance that this storm is as big as you think then maybe we'll need to find shelter in case." Zina sighs as she decides to go along with me.

"Yeah. Gotta point. Not to mention the fact that the sky seems like it could burst any minute. It'd be best to just wait out the storm for now." Volva admitted.

"But that makes me curious... Where do we go? Caves probably won't do us any good. Like remember that one we found over on the other side of the arena. The one the game makers purposely caved in expecting us to die in?" Kona brings up. Instantly I'm reminded of what happened on the third day in the arena. That time the exact same thing happened to my alliance. Weeks later and the memories of my alliance continue to sting my memory. I just wish that depression would just go away...

But that's when I'm reminded. That's when a small detail in the plot is brought back into the forefront and I almost jump up with excitement. I guess my sudden mood swings was pretty noticable because once I've reverted to a calmer state to give a suggestion everyone in the group is already staring in my direction. My childish moment causes me to blush a little but I nod to everyone. I look up at the sky and then the mountains around me.

I point northwards. "This direction. In this direction there was a shack. I bet we can rest there before this storm hits. If we rush it'll only take a little while... Maybe an hour or two." I explain. While I assumed this suggestion was a perfect counter for the situation, it came to pass that the others in this group were less than confident. Despite the doubt we find ourselves with little other option. It'd be a great place to regroup. Though while we begin to head off in that direction Volva asks a question and brings up the possibility that we may run into a tribute there.

"If it's one tribute we can probably gang up on them. The three of us I mean. If Bran and Zina are better by the time we reach it then maybe one or the other can handle it." Kona tells her, assuring him that they can handle the threat.

However, Volva doesn't really agree. "Yeah but what if say the careers were there. What would we do then?" She asked. I'm stopped dead in my tracks. I had actually never considered the possibility. If any one of the careers had come across the place then I had doubts that they could be anywhere BUT the little shack I had found.

"Uh... 12 are you okay?" Volva turns around and asks. I nod and catch up the group.

"I'd never thought about the careers showing up," I tell them. "If they've seen the place then they've probably set up base there and likely intend to ride out the next storm from there."

"So we doing this or not?" Zina blurts out in annoyance. I take a deep breath as I try to come up with an answer. However, I'm cut off by Kona.

"Of course we are. If the careers are nearby we'll probably be able to tell. There's also a large grassy plains up north which we can rush off too when the storm hits. May not be the ideal place to hide in a storm but as a resident of District 9 I can say first and foremost it's best not to be within trees during a storm." He argues.

I nod my head in agreement. "Plus if we're heading to the desert we'll be in a similar situation when it comes to being exposed to the storm. We should take the 50/50 if you ask me." I add on.

Everyone else goes quiet before they all seem to agree with me.

"Jeez, for a brat your age you sure talk like those idiots from 5." Zina groans. I can't help but respond with a chuckle. I look over at Volva and notice her annoyed reaction. It causes me to chuckle a little harder.

"I doubt Bran's gonna be too happy with you calling people from 5 idiots after he just saved your life." Kona says to Zina who

"Well it's too bad he's knocked out right now. He can't hear me." She states. Kona gives a big sigh and we continue on our treck through the arena. While we continued our journey, another interesting question was brought up.

"You know," Volva began. "When do you think Brans gonna get back up? It's been a while since we found him knocked out, and considering how long he might've been down before..." She admitted.

"By the time we reach the shack I bet he'll be alright to go again." Kona says.

"Yeah. I think that'll happen too." I nod my head in agreement.

"Also I have another question. When can we take a break? I've been holding Zina for a long time now and it's really hurting my back now.." Volva cried out. Kona turned and gave her an annoyed look.

"No time for that right now. We just need to get as close as we can to this shack. If we all seem exhausted then maybe we can take a break but right now there's no way." Kona insisted. Volva responded with what seemed like another cry.

"Get 11 to hold her!" She waled.

"I doubt a 12 year old could carry a 16 year old." Kona rolled his eyes.

"Just a theory..." Volva sadly admitted. I laughed again.

The forest soon turns into a swamp. As we hop through I find my eyes shifting between the trio as they argue and joke with each other. For some reason I've noticed it already. I've warmed up to these ones too...

My stomach begins to church. I hate this thought. The fact that my brain has gone on autopilot and I don't feel as intense as I had when I was with my brother, or my previous alliance and even more so when I was by myself. Half of my head feels as if I can't trust the kids from Districts 5 and 9 but on the other hand they hold their hand out to me and I wanna run with them.

 _And I know for a fact I'm running to my death with them, I need to stop ignoring that one._ I know their plan. Blow the arena dome up. That will probably end with the arena collapsing in on itself and killing us all. As someone who'd prefer to actually get home that's not something I'd wanna get behind. I shake my head thinking about it.

"Damn it all." I whisper to myself as I hold my head. I don't have a headache or anything but it's almost as if my head is throbbing or something. I just hate thinking like this. But I know this is the Hunger Games, I NEED to be thinking like this. The fantasies of victory needed to end the moment I jumped off ran into the bloodbath with all of the other tributes. I feel myself starting to ventilate harder and harder, my vision starts to blur.

"11. 11! Calm down!" A voice shouts. I'm so lost at the moment that I can't even desifor whether or not it's Kona or Volva but I know it has to be either of the two. I feel someone hit me across the head though, and suddenly I feel myself going back to normal. Everyone is now staring at me, looking worried sick.

"W-What happened to you? Was is... like poison or something?" Volva questions. I look at my hands.

"No. I've been poisoned before and it was different." I assure her. Kona just shakes his head.

"It's obvious that he just panicked and that was all. With that in mind though, do you wanna rest 11?" Kona asked me.

"No... I'm good. I think we should get the the cabin as fast as possible. I don't wanna hold us down." I tell them. Kona only gives a sad nod before we continue on our way-

* * *

 _ **Time Passes...**_

* * *

Eventually we found ourselves nearing the little area where I had found the cabin before. It was definitely closer then I had remembered it being which was quite reliving. However before our party could even get to a point where we could fully see it, we felt the ground around us shake and the sky made a sound akin the a large clap. Thunder. Almost right on cue, it began to pour. Rain came down almost like artillery. We weren't just wet, within seconds we were all drenched. The rain was so loud that I doubted we would be able to hear each other. I can assume Kona figured that as well because he soon began to yell over the rain in an attempt to communicate a plan. It turned out I was correct about the rain making it hard to hear each other over, but Kona manages to give us an idea of what we're gonna do. We discussed it a little on the way and I heavily disagreed with the whole thing.

"Remember. You go in first 11." Kona reminds me, giving me a little push. I turn around and give a mini-glare. A way to show that I'm not exactly happy about this. Konah told me I had to go in first because I had been to this cabin before. If I noticed something different, it could indicate that somebody had been there. Or worse, somebody was still there and preparing to ambush us which is something we all hypothesised would be the case if maybe the careers were there. I take in a few deep breaths as I head towards the dusty old cabin. I can on my belly and slowly start crawling towards the place, my site almost being blinded by how much is coming down all at once. After what felt like hours of a slow approach under the cover of grass and rain, I'm up again the cabin. I stand up. My heart pounding, I touch the wall and try and listen inside. Likely no thanks to the heavy rain, I'm unable to pick up on any noises. Nobody could have been preparing for our arrival. If anybody was inside, they most definitely would not have noticed me nearing the cabin. They also wouldn't have been able to pick up on my sound as just how the rain masks possibly masks the sound of whatever could be inside, it would also mask the noise of most of the things outside. I'm honestly quite ready to turn back. I don't have to die yet. I don't wanna die yet. I find myself at the door now. Rubbing the door handle, I slowly open the thing. I brace myself as I open it as the door makes a loud creaking noise, signifying the age of this cabin. I don't look in right away. I hide behind the door for maybe a minute, just waiting for the moment something could possibly jump out. However nothing happens. I look over towards Kona who is sticking his head out from behind a tree. I can't hear him, but I assume he asks whether or not the cost is clear. I raise my arms in a way to say that I don't really know before taking off my bag. I look deep inside where I find my knife stache, it seems to be dwindling. I only pull out one before taking another deep breath... and then sliding inside the cabin. As I enter, I look around frantically. Scanning any area in which an enemy could be concealing themselves. I dare not shout for them to come on out as I have a feeling that'll just be a quicker end to me. However after a while it starts to feel like I may have been overreacting. Maybe nobody was actually in the cabin after all. It had been just a possibility after all. I take a few more minutes to look around. There really isn't much to hide under or behind. I look around and inside the little drawer that's inside but I can't find anything. I even try seeing if I can look under the floorboard but nothing's down there either. Eventually, I give up and walk back outside where I have to my comrades that we're all good to go. I feel like a fool for how sheepish I might've looked during my desperate search.

 _Like a child_ , I think to myself. These past few days I've grown kind of a hatred of looking my age. I need to be tough in my surroundings. As I sit back against the wall though, I remind myself I'm probably only alive right now because of my childish appearance. Maybe the Capital will want a victor like me...

I shake my head at the thought. I shouldn't be so naive... it doesn't take too long for the others to wander into the cabin. Kona immediately drops Bran onto the floor before resting against the wall along with me.

"You know..." Kona begins in between breaths. "I'm just glad we agreed to listen to you, 11." Kona chuckles. Moments after Kona says this to me, Volva collapses into the room.

"I... Hate you... so much... for making me carry her the entire way." She complains in between breaths. Kona laughs in response.

"Oh shut up 5 girl. You complain too much." Zina yelled, annoyed. Zina crawls across the floor and then onto the wall next to me and Kona. Kona raises an eyebrow at Zina.

"We've been working together for so long yet you don't even call Volva by her real name. Come on Zina." Kona growls with disappointment. However his annoyed turn slowly shifts into one of curiosity. I notice it as he turns and looks over at me.

"Say, 11. I don't think any of us have your name. You wanna share it with us?" He asks me. First I feel a bit uncomfortable at the thought. I can tell Kona knows this, as he gives me a welcoming glance. I turn away and give a sigh.

"Altar. That's my name." I let spill. The room now goes silent as the sound of heavy rain fills the void. Almost as quickly as it befell, the white noise was interrupted by Zina's cocky cackling.

"Oh boy, and I thought the names from 5 were stupid-," Zina laughs.

"Zina!" Kona yells her name, annoyed by her blatant disrespect of her allies.

"Two of your allies are from 5, they're fighting for you just as hard as you're fighting." Kona shouted.

"Okay look. I get it. We're allies and all, I don't mind Bran and I don't mind Volva. Okay? Jee, sorry I offended you Kona." Zina rolls her eyes. Kona gives an unconvinced look at her.

"Yet you look like you resent us. Don't act like you don't Zinny." He argues. Zina begins to get on her feet as she glares down at Kona who begins to follow. I know exactly where this is about to go and within no time I'm up on my feet too. I quickly put myself between the two and begin yelling.

"Are you two seriously gonna fight now? After you've come all this way together? Seriously get over yourselves!" I shout at them both. Kona quickly breathes out and sits down while Zina opens her mouth to speak. However she eventually turns back and sits down too. After this, silence once again takes over. The room is without light and the only sound is the rain pounding the wooden roof above us and the thunder the growls around us. This is a familiar feeling. Somedays it'd be raining after school in 11 and I'd be home by myself listening to the endless rain for hours all alone. Alma would sometimes be there with me, those days we'd spend inside the house just watching the rain.

 _Alma..._

The thought of my brother feels me with annoyance. I'm stuck with these teens who can't even get along. These teens that snatched me away from my brother for no reason. Without thinking, I begin to speak.

"You guys realize you didn't have to take me away from my brother right..." I intend to say to myself, in almost a whisper. However it's picked up by everyone.

"I mean... Maybe we didn't have to... But..." Volva pulled her knees closer to her, as if the thought made her uncomfortable. I look over at Kona. He shrugs. Zina is laying down on the other side of the cabin, right next to Bran who is still unconscious.

"Who cares. You have our plan so we were supposed to take you out. And you know maybe we should've down that." She threatens me. I ignore her before pushing myself onto the wall.

"Me and him were a great team. We rarely, if ever got into fights. We understood each others pain. I never wanted to not be by his side." I recall. Silence again.

"Nobody cares. We aren't here to be friends kid, we're here to surviv-," Suddenly she completely stops speaking. Mere moments later she lets out an audible gasp.

"Bran! You're okay!" She shouts. Volva and Kona quickly get up after hearing this and huddle around the other tribute from 5.

"How long was I out? And where are we anyways?" He says, clearly this time.

"Only for half a day. We're in a cabin, a little far off from our target destination." Kona explains.

Bran gives an angry look. "Are you kidding me, you should've just kept going to our destination!" Bran yells. I look over towards the others.

"There's a storm going on, worse than the last one we were in. Since I remembered this little place exists I thought we should stop by here first since it'd be safer than taking the full storm head on." I tell Bran. On cue, there's a lighting strike only a little bit away. Light shines briefly inside of our cabin. Bran quietly lays himself back down.

"You bring up a good point... 11." He admits. _Damn right I did!_

"But still, can't believe we're so close to ending this here... This little roadblock will eventually be lifted but still man. It feels like it'll never end. Ya know what I'm saying?" Bran sighs. The other 3 nods.

"Does anyone know what day it is?" The 5 boy asks.

"Day 15!" I shout from across the room.

"Damn. We've really been at this for 15 days and 14 nights." Bran leans up. Volva begins to laugh.

"I never thought I'd make it this far honestly. Really I thought I'd ju... I thought I'd just hold... hold you all back." Her laughter slowly begins to fade however as she looks away and towards one of the windows. The rain begins to get harder and louder.

"You know... Same..." Kona pulls Volva closer to him and hugs her. Watching the two, I can tell Volva does not believe Kona for a second. The look on her face says it all. One that just screams "Bullcrap." However, it's not Volva to bring this to his attention. Instead a very annoyed Zina.

"That's stupid. Yeah, Volva could be replaced with a cardboard box and I doubt anything in the games would change but I'm going to be honest; Kona you're not that bad. I bet it was you who came back to get me and Bran."

"Didn't you act like that was a terrible idea when we were on our way here?" He reminds her that she at some point during our journey had brought up Kona's plan to grab them after the fight was terrible.

"Mmm... You're just making up stuff." She closes her eyes and looks away, once again annoyed. Bran chuckles.

"Face it. You really are happy to still be alive and kicking." Bran pokes Zina. She faces him, half angered and half flustered.

"We're still in the arena you know that. As far as I'm concerned we're all already dead. Kona picking us up only delayed the inevitable honestly." She gripes. Kona smirks.

"And didn't you just say you were happy we came back to get you and Bran?" He reminds Zina. This swiftly quiets her. She turns her head to the window, sitting up and watching the rain outside. As if on cue, the rain gets much harder which makes hearing each other in the cabin much harder. However it doesn't seem like the others mind it too much. They're all just talking and chuckling over on the other side of the small cabin.

 _Well it's kinda nice seeing them get along like this._

Seeing them like it starts to bring back memories of weeks ago when I was with Monica, Byke and Troy. It isn't the first time that I've remembered the fun we've had, but it is the first time in a while that their memory gets me this emotional. For a few moments I'm holding back my tears as I watch the teens from 5 and 9 talk about themselves as if they'd just met. It's after a while that Kona turns and notices my reaction.

"Hey? Altar? You okay over there?" He's quick to ask. My eyes widen a little, surprised by the fact that he even acknowledged me during this moment between him and his alliance members.

"Y-Yeah. N-Nothings wrong." I'm obviously lying as right after I say that, the tears start streaming and within seconds I'm a sobbing mess. But almost instantaneously, someone has grabbed me and is holding me tightly. However upon reopening my eyes and looking up I discover that it's two people, not one. Volva and Kona together are hugging me.

"It's gonna be okay Altar. We're gonna get through this together." Volva says into my ear. With that, I begin sobbing just as hard as the rain that's pounding at the windows of the cabin.

 _I just wanna go home..._

* * *

 _ **Currently Remaining Tributes**_

 **\- District 1 Male**

 **\- District 1 Female**

 **\- District 2 Male**

 **\- District 4 Female (Monica)**

 **\- District 5 Female (Volva)**

 **\- District 9 Male (Bran)**

 **-District 9 Female (Zina)**

 **\- District 9 Male (Kona)**

 **\- District 10 Female (Bella)**

 **\- District 11 Male (Altar)**

 **\- District 11 Female (Ceres)**

 **\- District 11 Male (Alma)**

* * *

 _So one mistake I ended up making in my 5 years knowing of the Hunger Games is assume that every arena was a literal arena and built like the one from Catching Fire with a force field and everything. Of course, in story the recent two games are built like this but I just wanna clear up some possible confusion. Sorry for the long wait on this chapter._


End file.
